I HE RED TRIANGLE 

IN THE 



CHANGING NATIONS 






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COPYRIGHT DKFOS1T. 



THE RED TRIANGLE 

IN 

THE CHANGING NATIONS 



BY 

G. SIDNEY PHELPS J. M. GROVES 

W. W. PETER CHARLES J. EWALD 

HOWARD A. WALTER G. I. BABCOCK 

JOHN KELMAN 



Edited, with an Introduction, by 
ROBERT P»\VILDER 




ASSOCIATION PRESS 

Nbw York: 347 Madison Avenue 
1918 



4 



Copyright, 1918, by 

The International Committee of 

Young Men's Christian Associations 



SE? -3 1313 



CI.A501652 



INTRODUCTION 

Ours is an international age, marked by rapid changes. 
The war has brought the twenty-three allied peoples into 
a brotherhood of common aims and efforts against a com- 
mon foe. They are bound together, primarily, by the 
moral issues involved in this conflict, recognizing that in 
the war great problems are at stake, and that the violation 
of treaties and the commission of atrocities must cease if 
the world is to be safe for democracy. 

Recently, Premier Lloyd George said, *'The Allies now 
must defend all fronts against the enemy and have a 
mobile army for any point of emergency." Must not the 
Christian Church also regard every moral and religious 
battlefront of vital importance, whether it be in France 
or Italy; in the Balkans or Palestine; in Mesopotamia or 
Africa ; in India or China ? 

Moreover, when the war is won, how is the world to be 
kept safe for democracy, and how is a real and lasting 
brotherhood of man to be established? Brothers are 
brothers only because they are the sons of the same Father. 
It is only as men reverence and obey the Father in Heaven 
that they will act in a brotherly way on earth. Hence the 
problem connected with the work of reconstruction, after 
the war, cannot be solved satisfactorily without an adequate 
religious solution. What is the solution to be ? Among the 
Allies are found non-Christian as well as Christian nations. 
What are their moral and religious needs? Can Jesus 
Christ meet these needs? Does the war show that Chris- 
tianity has failed, or is it the only hope for ultimate peace 
between the nations? If Christ is the desire of all nations, 
should we not proclaim Him to all? Is it fair for us to 

iii 



iv INTRODUCTION 

receive material aid for carrying on the war in France, from 
Indians, Chinese, and Africans, and at the same time to 
withhold from them and their countrymen the religious aid 
we can give them? How far has the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association given them such help, and how far is it 
qualified to render them further assistance? 

Such are some of the questions which this book seeks 
to answer. It has been prepared by men who have labored 
in the lands which they describe. All are Secretaries of 
the Young Men's Christian Association, with the single 
exception of Dr. John Kelman, who tells what he has seen 
of Association work in the British Army on the Western 
war front. The other writers describe the work of the 
Association Movement in other lands. 

While emphasis is laid in this volume upon the work of 
the Red Triangle, we would not lose sight of the other 
activities of the Christian Church in these countries. Other 
men have labored and Association Secretaries have entered 
into their labors ; but as this book is designed, primarily, 
for the use of the Association membership at home and of 
our men under the Colors, it deals, chiefly, with the work 
of the Association in the lands under review. 

After the war, we shall undoubtedly come into even 
closer relationships with the non-Christian nations than 
those which exist at present. If we do not raise them 
morally and religiously, they will have a lowering influence 
upon us. Canon Parfit, in his recent work on Mesopotamia, 
has written, "When the new Asiatic lines are completed, 
it will be possible to travel, comfortably, from London to 
India in seven days." It is predicted that soon aeroplanes 
will cover the distance from London to Bombay in three 
days. The world is shrinking. Does it not behoove us to 
study, sympathetically, the needs of all nations and then 
to seek to meet those needs? Robert P. Wilder. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAOF. 

Introduction iii 

I. Changing Japan 1 

II. China and the Day After Tomorrow ... 12 

III. The Indian Empire 28 

IV. The Philippine Islands 59 

V. South America, the Continent of Opportunity 76 

VI. Mexico, Our Nearest Mission F* eld .... 93 

VII. The Western War Zone . . 108 



CHANGING JAPAN 

G. Sidney Phelps 
Secretary in Japan, 1902-1918 

Fifty years ago, when the first missionaries visited Japan, 
there stood in conspicuous places in all cities and villages 
the ancient proscription boards against Christianity. Re- 
cently, a board dating back over two hundred years was 
presented to the General Secretary of the Kyoto Young 
Men's Christian Association, whose building stands within 
a few blocks of the spot where it had threatened. Trans- 
lated, the inscription reads thus : 

"Notice : Christianity is an evil sect ; it must be blotted out 
from this country. The following rewards are offered : 

1. For information leading to the detection of a 
foreign missionary, 500 g. Ryo. 

2. For information leading to the detection of a 
Japanese priest, 300 g. Ryo. 

3. For information leading to the detection of a 
Japanese Christian, 100 g. Ryo. 

Even though a Christian is a member of one's own family 
or household, he must be reported. If you report such a 
person you will receive a reward; if you do not, you will 
suffer punishment as a Christian. (Signed) Governor of 
Kyoto." 

Japan Seeks a New Basis 

Such was the attitude of officials, high and low, in Japan 
when Commodore Perry knocked at their doors for ad- 
mittance. Today the Governor of Kyoto, the Chief of 

I 



2 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

Police, the Mayor of the City, the President of the Imperial 
University, and many other important officials are mem- 
bers of the Young Men's Christian Association. What 
miracle has changed their attitude of hate to one of sym- 
pathy and solicitation ? The answer is found in the increas- 
ing sense of need on the part of the leaders of new Japan. 
These brilliant statesmen of the new world power are no 
longer seeking from the West railroads and battleships and 
factories and educational systems. All these they are pro- 
ducing themselves in satisfactory quantity and quality. 
What new Japan seeks is a Christian basis for her rapidly 
expanding nationality. 

For the Social Order 

The native religions of Japan have failed to furnish an 
adequate moral basis. The head of a great Japanese firm 
has publicly professed his conversion in Tokyo to the reli- 
gion of Jesus Christ. In speaking of his experiences he de- 
clared, "For years I have been seeking for a religion of 
power. I tried Buddhism without satisfaction, I sincerely 
studied the doctrines of Confucianism, but without com- 
fort. Shintoism was no better, and not until I turned to 
Jesus Christ, did I find comfort and inspiration and power 
for the daily task." During the recent coronation of the 
Emperor at Kyoto, a Japanese lady of high rank spoke to 
a missionary as follows, "I have wealth and social posi- 
tion and everything that a woman could desire, but in my 
heart there is no peace ; I long for such a personal Saviour 
as Christianity presents." The Governor of one of the 
great provinces of Japan, speaking at the dedication of a 
new Young Men's Christian Association building, publicly 
challenged the Imperial Government to use the Association 
as a means of impregnating the national life of Japan with 
Christian morality. A few days later, one of the daily 



CHANGING JAPAN 3 

papers of Tokyo quoted the Governors speech and heartily 
endorsed the suggestion. Throughout Japan there is a 
growing sense of spiritual need and an unprecedented turn- 
ing to Christianity as a possible source of a new moral basis 
for the social order. 

A few months ago one of the National Secretaries of 
the Japanese Young Men's Christian Association was re- 
turning to Japan from a visit to Korea. While riding upon 
the splendid American-built Korean railway, he fell in with 
a Japanese gentleman returning from a tour of investiga- 
tion in China. Upon learning the secretary's business, the 
Japanese gentleman immediately exclaimed, "If you are the 
Secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association, I have 
a request to make of you. Everywhere I find increasing 
opportunities for Japanese commerce, but I am very much 
depressed by the conviction that our business men in China 
and other countries are inferior to the fine type of Christian 
men sent by England and America. I am convinced that 
Japan cannot win a large place in the world until we have 
raised up a new generation of young business men trained 
in Christian principles. I hope that the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association will help us to produce these young busi- 
ness men." In response to such challenges as this, the 
Association in Japan has already developed efficient city 
Associations in eight great commercial centers, and has less 
highly developed organizations in seven other cities. Prac- 
tically all these organizations are conducting well organized 
educational classes for commercial young men, in which 
Bible teaching and Christian instruction are considered the 
unique contribution of the Association to Japan. 

The Association in Osaka, the great industrial capital of 
Japan, last year had over 2,200 young men in its educational 
department, all of whom received regular Bible instruction, 
and 475 of whom publicly declared their desire to lead a 



4 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

Christian life. In the Kobe Association there are 780 and 
in Yokohama 450 young men in similar classes. The Japa- 
nese Associations are thus training over 4,000 young men 
for commercial life, with the Christian emphasis. 

For Educational Life 

The educational leaders of Japan are also seeking a new 
basis for moral teaching in the public schools. Probably 
no country in the world has made more liberal provision for 
ethical teaching in its school curricula than has Japan. 
Pupils from the lowest grades up through the high school 
are given regular lectures on moral science, but in spite of 
this, there has been a lamentable failure to improve the 
character of the students. Moral teaching without a vital 
religious basis has absolutely failed in Japan. The reli- 
gious census of the Imperial University at Tokyo showed 
that fully 80 per cent of the students class themselves as 
either agnostics or atheists. 

And yet any careful observer of conditions in Japan must 
be impressed by the thirst of the students for spiritual re- 
freshment. At the end of his last world tour, at the close 
of a wonderful series of evangelistic meetings in the great 
Imperial Universities of Kyoto and Tokyo, Dr. Mott de- 
clared that never in his experience had he seen a more 
enthusiastic response to the presentation of the gospel mes- 
sage than he had from these Japanese students. A few 
years ago an Englishman teaching in a government high 
school in Kyoto, seeing the poverty of spiritual teaching in 
his school, bought a few copies of a Christian paper edited 
by a missionary and distributed them in one of his classes. 
The boys read them so eagerly that he offered to give them 
more and when he saw the boys almost fighting for pos- 
session of the few that he could furnish, he realized that 
here was a great opportunity in Japan. So he called to- 



CHANGING JAPAN 5 

gether a few missionary and teacher friends and laid the 
matter before them, with the result that a little society was 
formed to furnish Christian literature to Japanese students. 
From small beginnings, the work of that society has grown 
until today its paper, published by its own editor in the 
Japanese language, is being sent to over 375,000 students in 
1,150 government high schools and colleges from one end 
of the Empire to the other. The monthly circulation of the 
paper has now passed the 55,000 mark. These papers are 
distributed with the knowledge and sympathetic cooperation 
of the principal in each school, who appoints a teacher or 
monitor to be responsible for the proper distribution of each 
month's quota. There could be no stronger testimony to 
the eagerness of Japanese students to know the truth that 
makes men and nations free. 

The Young Men's Christian Association in Japan is pre- 
senting Christian truth to the educated classes through fifty- 
six student organizations, two splendid club houses at the 
Kyoto and Tokyo Imperial Universities, 620 Christian hos- 
tels scattered among the government colleges of the Empire, 
and the summer conferences for students and professors, 
where the Christian life is demonstrated and where young 
men are urged to give themselves to the leadership of the 
Church for the evangelization of Japan. 

For the Home 

New Japan is also challenging the Christian Church with 
respect to home life. In few countries have certain aspects 
of beautiful home life been more finely developed than in 
Japan, but in a land where concubinage has been socially 
tolerated, where the double standard of morality is recog- 
nized, where divorces and trial marriages carry no sting, 
where the social life of young people has not been re- 
organized to meet modern social conditions, there is great 



6 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

need for the Christian model of home life. The Christian 
Church has already made a demonstration of the loveli- 
ness and moral fruitfulness of the Christian home, which 
bids fair to prove one of the chief agents in revolutionizing 
and sanctifying the home life of Japan. 

For National Patriotism 

It is also an open secret that many of the leading states- 
men and officials of Japan are seeking in Christianity a new 
basis for the national patriotism. The old feudal system 
produced a wonderful spirit of loyalty and self-sacrifice, 
but the inroad of modern science and civilization has gone 
far in a process of undermining the ancient belief in the 
divinity of the Emperor. Friendly observers have sym- 
pathized with the Japanese leaders in their dilemma, but it 
has become increasingly evident that a new basis must be 
substituted for the old. A few months ago, a Tokyo journal 
published the result of a questionnaire which had been con- 
ducted by a government educator in a certain high school 
in the capital. Ten years ago he passed slips to all the 
students of the graduating class, asking this question, 
"What do you consider the most precious thing in the 
world?" The replies indicated that forty per cent con- 
sidered life the most important thing, while 34 per cent 
named the Emperor. Ten years later, in the same class in 
the same school, 60 per cent gave life as the most precious 
thing in the world and less than 5 per cent mentioned the 
Emperor. The announcement of the results of this ques- 
tionnaire produced a sensation in official and educational 
circles in Japan. It was pointed out that if the official teach- 
ings in the schools had so grievously failed to sustain the 
ancient faith of students, some radical change must be made 
in the method of moral instruction. The Christians were 
quick to proclaim that Christianity offers the needed moral 



CHANGING JAPAN y 

basis. It was pointed out that France and Great Britain, 
with their extreme democratic forms of government, have 
found adequate basis for patriotic devotion and self-sacri- 
fice in the Christian civilization upon which the foundations 
of their empires rested. 

Even in the army, which has been regarded impregnable 
to Christian influence because the theory of its discipline 
was based on the belief in the Emperor's divinity, there have 
been signs of the realization of the need of a new policy. 
Many of the officials of the navy are professed Christians. 
Last year in the army a secretary of the Young Men's 
Christian Association, who was serving his two years as 
conscript, had a unique but significant experience. One day 
the captain of his company called him out and asked him 
if he were a Christian. Upon receiving an affirmative reply, 
the captain requested him to give a Christian talk before 
all the men of the company. So pleased was he by the 
result that he insisted on the young Christian's giving 
regular religious instruction to the men. One day the cap- 
tain brought a young private and said, "This young man 
is incorrigible; I have resolved to inflict extreme discipline 
on him unless he can be reformed. My only hope is that 
you may make a Christian of him; take him to your tent 
and be his elder brother." The incorrigible one was soon 
led to Christ, with the result that soldier after soldier was 
brought by the captain to this young physician of souls and 
his influence became recognized by high officials. 

The Young Men's Christian Association has ministered 
to the army, first, through the great work which it did dur- 
ing the Russo-Japanese war when fully one million men 
were touched by the Association; and later, through its 
response to an appeal from the army authorities, in organ- 
izing and promoting physical education among the student 
and commercial classes of the empire. The National Physi- 



8 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

cal Director of the Association has been called upon to train 
athletic leaders, to lay out playgrounds and athletic fields, 
and to serve as the Executive Secretary of the Far Eastern 
Olympic Games held in Tokyo this spring. The practical 
influence of the Association has already been felt in the 
decision of the leaders of a great athletic field meet to 
change the day from Sunday to Saturday, in order that the 
superior teams of various Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tions might participate in the games. 

The Influence of Christianity 

The strength of Christianity in Japan today, as far as 
statistics can show it, is indicated in the following figures : 

Of 53,000,000 inhabitants in Japan, 1,000,000 are con- 
sidered pro-Christian. There are 375 Christian schools 
with 33,250 students. The property of Christian schools 
in Japan is valued at $1,250,000. There are 1,288 Chris- 
tian churches in the Empire, with over 300,000 baptized 
members and 150,000 pupils in Sunday schools. The church 
property in Japan, not including schools, is valued at $2,- 
250,000. 

Domestic Problems 

Already in Japan Christian public sentiment has so far 
crystallized as to form an important force in the councils 
of the Empire. Practically all modern reform movements 
have had their rise and have found their leadership in the 
Christian Church. It is not without significance that the 
first two Imperial government prisons to be reformed on 
the western model had Christian wardens, nor that orphan- 
ages, insane asylums, leper colonies, and other modern 
agencies were first introduced by Christians. The vigorous 
temperance movement in Japan was inaugurated and has 
been led principally by Christians. The leader of the 



CHANGING JAPAN 9 

W. C. T. U., Madam Yajima, was decorated by the Emperor 
at the recent coronation, in recognition of her services to 
the cause of temperance. Societies for the prevention of 
tuberculosis, prostitution, child labor, and other social evils 
are chiefly the work of Christians. Homes for ex-prisoners, 
labor and factory legislation, and similar movements have 
been led largely by Christians. Great relief movements in 
times of calamity, such as the great flood in Tokyo and the 
fire in Osaka, have been carried on by Christians, mainly 
under the leadership of the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation. 

International Relationships 

Not only is there an increasing interest on the part of 
Japanese publicists in Christianity because of its vitalizing 
effect upon domestic problems, but also there is impressive 
evidence that the statesmen of Japan recognize in Chris- 
tianity one of the most potent forces in international re- 
lationships. A few years ago a high government official, 
responsible for carrying out an important colonial and 
political enterprise, challenged the secretary of the Young 
Men's Christian Association to solve a difficult political 
problem, through the sole use of the Christian spirit in 
dealing with the situation. The challenge was accepted, 
on condition that two years should be given the Association 
to demonstrate that the Christian religion could accomplish 
what the power of might could not. At the end of two 
years, the government official gave a complimentary dinner 
to the Association secretary, in frank acknowledgment of 
the success of the Christian experiment. It is difficult to 
over-estimate the far-reaching effect of such demonstrations 
as this, before the open-minded and brilliant moulders of a 
plastic civilization. A few months ago a Japanese official, 
close to the person of the Emperor, made a remarkable 



io THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

statement to a small group of Japanese and American 
gentlemen, who had met to discuss the matter of relation- 
ships between Japan and America. After some hours of 
frank discussion of the points at issue between the two 
nations, this titled Japanese official arose and said with 
great solemnity, "Gentlemen, we have spent hours in dis- 
cussing this important question — we have frankly stated the 
pros and cons, and we have found it impossible to overcome 
certain obstacles. I want to state to you my profound con- 
viction that nothing can solve such questions as this but the 
spirit of Jesus Christ. I want to ask you Americans to do 
all you can to arouse American Christian public sentiment 
to focus itself upon this great international question and I 
want to ask my Japanese friends to create a similar Chris- 
tian public sentiment here; only thus can we maintain the 
peace of the world, in the face of such difficult misunder- 
standings." 

It is thus seen that Japan is consciously inclining to a 
place among the great Christian nations of the world and 
is not only willing but anxious to help with the other great 
nations in developing and maintaining a new and Christian 
world civilization. Conversely, it may be stated that Chris- 
tian civilization has much at stake in Japan; the forces of 
democracy and autocracy are so evenly balanced that it 
seems very possible that comparatively small forces may 
swing the balance to one side or the other. It is not an 
exaggeration to state that the first line trenches of this 
conflict in the Far East are already established. 

Eight years ago the famous message was sent from Japan 
to the Nashville Student Volunteer Convention, "Japan 
leads the Orient, but whither?" Today it looks as though 
the destiny of the human race may be determined in the 
Orient. Japan still leads, but whither? This question, the 
forces of Christianity in Japan are trying to answer. 



CHANGING JAPAN n 

References 

The following books are suggested for further reading : 

Hagin, "The Cross and Japan." 
Nitobe, "The Japanese Nation." 
Noss, "Tokoku, the Scotland of Japan." 
Gulick, "America and the Orient." 
Cary, "The Regeneration of Japan." 



II 

CHINA AND THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW 

W. W. Peter 

Secretary of Department of Public Health of the Young Men's 
Christian Association, 1913-1918 

World Problems to Be Faced 

Today the whole world is thinking of war. Tomorrow 
we shall have to solve the problems arising out of this war. 
Day after tomorrow the thought of the world will move 
eastward from Europe and westward from the Americas 
to coalesce around the Pacific basin, on whose rim dwells 
over half the population of the globe. The west side of 
this basin will be the great world stage. China, with her 
population of a fourth of the human race, will be one of the 
central figures. New world issues will be decided. 

No thinking man can hold that the question of human 
development will be solved by this war. We must expect 
to be confronted by tasks more difficult than those which 
face us now. Dimly we see them on the horizon. After 
the war we shall be in the very midst of seething social 
forces, internal revolutions, international upheavals, and 
such change as we can little dream of yet, with men giving 
themselves then, as now, to the belief that basically man 
was created in the image of God and that all these things 
cannot but spell progress in the direction of human better- 
ment. It is difficult to detach ourselves from the present 
and acquire a point of view from which we can look ahead. 
The reach is too far into the future. But just as surely 

12 



CHINA 13 

as we believe that in the past there has gone on an un- 
broken struggle within the human race before it reached its 
present state, so man will continue his striving to find that 
ultimate place in the great scheme of things for which he 
is fitted. 

Finding World Principles 

Compared with the present one, past struggles have been 
localized, isolated, and unrelated, taking place in one part 
of the world, with the other parts knowing nothing about 
them or unconcerned as to the outcome. Is it not a hope- 
ful sign of progress, in spite of the awfulness of it all, that 
for the first time in recorded history practically the whole 
of the human race is aware of what is taking place ? Does 
this mean that we are deciding upon world principles which 
shall apply in our future upward striving — principles, for 
instance, which shall apply in future dealings between the 
different races? between the East and the West? princi- 
ples, speaking concretely, which shall apply to China? 

If the war will do this for us and for China, it will have 
been worth the terrible cost. Then shall we have real 
evidence of progress in the development of the human race. 
For nowhere will the results of this war be felt more than 
on the west side of the Pacific basin. 

This, then, is the setting in which we should consider 
China. The world is no longer divided off into compart- 
ments. That day has passed. The forces at work on either 
side of the present well-defined but shifting battle-lines have 
origin in the most widely scattered parts of the world. Geo- 
graphical frontiers have melted away. Peoples are being 
drawn to each other by common ideals. Racial differences 
have been broken down. War commands are being given 
in all forms of speech. Difference of language is no longer 
an insuperable obstacle. On both sides are fighting men 



i 4 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

and women of all religions. Religious beliefs no longer 
keep people from working together. Beside the white man 
whose mind is capable of evolving new and frightful 
weapons of modern warfare, fights the savage whose last 
battles were fought with shield and spear in forests on the 
other side of the sea. All stages of human development are 
represented. The world of today is a different world from 
that of yesterday. Ribbons of steel, strands of copper, ship 
shuttles on the sea, the printed page, and the fellowship 
of suffering have bound men together, making of each mem- 
ber of the race a world citizen. 

World Citizenship 

This is a thing which ought to be desired. It affords an 
indication of progress in the development of the human 
race. But this new state brings with it greater world ques- 
tions than have ever confronted man in the past. World 
citizenship implies, for one thing, that every thinking man 
will make a conscious effort to understand the viewpoints 
which prevail in those vast reaches of human experience 
in other parts of the world, with which he did not concern 
himself seriously in the past. We are bound to live in the 
future in closer proximity to other peoples than our own. 
We must understand them, and they us, if we would solve 
our own problems, and they theirs, in the right way, and 
to our mutual satisfaction. The questions of tomorrow and 
of the day after tomorrow loom up before us as world 
questions. They will not be solved by one section for all 
the rest, but by all together. The individual cannot there- 
fore be like old Mr. Jones working in a field near the 
Canadian border, when an airplane came down in his field. 
The pilot, wishing to know whether he was in Canada or 
the United States, asked, "Where am I ?" The reply given 
was, "You're in Bill Jones' hay field, and I'm Jones." 



CHINA 15 

The West Side of the Pacific Basin 

Accepting this viewpoint of world citizenship as the most 
rational one from which to work out our contribution to 
the solution of world problems of the future, why should 
the group of countries bordering the west side of the Pacific 
basin be of special interest to us? 

*'The era of the Mediterranean Sea died with the dis- 
covery of America," said Theodore Roosevelt. "The Atlantic 
era is now at the height of its development and must soon 
exhaust the resources at its command. " "The Pacific 
Ocean," said W. H. Seward fifty-seven years ago (1861), 
"its shores, its islands, and the vast regions beyond will 
become the chief theater in the world's great hereafter." 
Leading thinkers in Europe and America agree with this 
viewpoint. 

A great many people think of China as a place on the 
other side of the earth, which is land-poor, overpopulated, 
lacking in natural resources, poverty-stricken, the fountain- 
head of epidemic diseases, inhabited by hordes of semi- 
civilized people pitching about on their last legs unable to 
find their way or their place among the other nations of the 
earth, and without question fit subjects to be controlled by 
others. They are afraid Asia will drift. Consequently 
there have been several would-be rudders of Asia. And 
unless out of this war there emerge world principles ac- 
cepted by all nations, there will be more such would-be 
rudders. 

China and the Past 

How many people think of this newest republic as the 
oldest nation — a nation enjoying a golden age at a time 
when Teutonic tribes were hunting wild beasts by the North 
Sea; a nation when Egypt emerged, when Babylon fell, 



16 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

when Greece crumbled, and when the great Roman empire 
disintegrated? When Homer was composing and singing 
the Iliad, China's blind minstrels were celebrating her 
ancient heroes, whose tombs had already been with them 
through thirteen centuries. In those days the world was 
divided off into watertight compartments. These events 
which have come down to us in history as of great signifi- 
cance were never heard of by the Chinese people. Any 
corrective elements coming out of them as they budded, 
flowered, and faded away in the course of centuries, were 
not available to the Chinese. All this time they were mak- 
ing their own way by dint of their own inherent strength 
and ability, profiting not by the experience of others but 
by their own. Do not these facts of the past convince us 
that, whatever the weaknesses of the Chinese may be in 
the light of western civilization, there are present neverthe- 
less certain elements in certain combination which make 
specifically for national longevity? China's frontiers have 
been crossed many times before now by strong influences. 
What happened ? These influences were either overcome or 
assimilated. If we think hastily that the Chinese at this 
time have no staying power in the face of present world 
conditions, it is because we hold events occurring within 
our own day so close to our eyes as to obscure the history 
of the past. China has had a great deal of practice dur- 
ing forty centuries in finding her way through the years, 
whereas other nations have flashed into being, spurted, 
and elbowed their way to the front, only to fall exhausted 
by the wayside. China's shoes may not be spiked at the 
bottom, but there is something very substantial from the 
soles up. 

However, there have been changes. Living like the 
ancients, in a world divided off into isolated parts, is one 
kind of an achievement; living in a modern world grown 



CHINA 17 

smaller, with the people of all countries and races in close 
contact and interdependent, is an achievement of quite an- 
other kind. 

China and Today 

For forty centuries China has been the mistress of the 
Orient, the center of eastern civilization. But there is a 
western civilization also. This civilization, too, was born 
in her cradle on the plains of Asia 4,000 years ago, but, 
carried westward by the Arabs, was nurtured in the primi- 
tive home of the Caucasians, and gave birth to modern 
Europe. It leaped over the Atlantic and took root in a new, 
wild continent. Still moving westward, it crossed the 
Pacific and promoted the material growth of modern Japan. 
It is masterful in its grasp of material resources and pro- 
gressive in spirit. It has threaded the Orient with paths 
of commerce and broken down the bars of Chinese seclu- 
sion. In the complexity of these new relationships with 
this western civilization China faces a crisis. 

To safeguard her future and that of the world China 
needs to develop along four main lines : political, material, 
educational, and spiritual. 

Political Changes 

In one of the last edicts promulgated by the falling 
Manchu rulers (Feb. 12, 1912) occurs this statement: "So 
long as the form of government is undecided, the Nation 
can have no peace. The people sway meaningless to and 
fro, vainly seeking to regain the equilibrium which has 
been so sensationally lost." 

In China a process of political metamorphosis to readjust 
this old nation to new conditions is under way. There is 
no doubt but that this effort was hastened by the coming 
of foreigners. For so many centuries the people were 



18 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

entrenched in their fastnesses that without the play of 
forces which to them were supernatural, their daily lives 
and customs would not have been affected. Foreign im- 
pact brought with it the steam engine, the telegraph, rifles, 
and cannon, and all the manifestations of the materialistic 
development of western civilization. 

As early as 1600 the Dutch settled in Formosa and a 
few years later tried to gain a foothold in China at Amoy. 
Some years later they secured possession of an island in 
the river at Canton, where they planted cannon. Based on 
subsequent events that little island is known to this day as 
"Dutch Folly." 

The great East India Company made a famous treaty 
with China in 1680. Nine years later a treaty was made 
with Russia, giving her everything north of the Amur 
River. 

The treaty with the East India Company was abolished 
after 153 years (1833). Foreigners were sounding a key- 
note of aggression very displeasing to Chinese ears. The 
first serious modern conflict between China and foreign 
powers began in 1839, when Commissioner Lin, of Can- 
ton, destroyed 20,283 chests of opium which British mer- 
chants had brought to China contrary to Chinese law. The 
English government assumed responsibility by paying the 
merchants about 12,000,000 gold dollars and began the first 
Opium War, which ended so disastrously for China. Hong- 
Kong was ceded to Great Britain and 21,000,000 gold dol- 
lars indemnity was imposed. Opium was not legalized, 
however, till October, i860, after a second Opium War. 
Three years later Sir Robert Hart was appointed inspector- 
general of customs. He is the greatest Englishman ever 
sent by Great Britain to China. 

A second grievance against foreigners soon followed 
opium. Coolies were captured by foreign nations and 



CHINA 19 

taken to foreign lands to help develop newly acquired pos- 
sessions. The coolie trade was not abolished till 1873, after 
500,000 coolies had been transported. 

By this time the cumulative effect of intercourse with 
foreigners resulted in an anti-foreign feeling which became 
deeply rooted in the minds of the Chinese. Things for- 
eign, as well as foreigners themselves, were despised. In 
1876 a ten-mile railroad from Shanghai to Woosung, which 
had been erected through foreign pressure, was bought by 
China and completely torn up. 

In 1882 the French invaded Tongking. No European 
nation in a position to do so refrained from applying pres- 
sure of one kind or another to secure a foothold in China. 
But all of these acts up to this time were committed by 
people of another race. China was yet to learn of dangers 
nearer home. 

During all these years Japan was making great strides 
toward a place among the strong nations. She introduced 
western ships and guns, she followed the western art of 
war, and, what is more significant, she followed the pre- 
cedent of European nations and established herself on the 
mainland of Asia. In the war over Korea, 1894- 1895, she 
easily defeated China. She was robbed of the full fruits 
of her victory, however, by jealous European governments. 

In November, 1897, two German Catholic priests were 
murdered in Shantung. Germany issued a forty-eight-hour 
ultimatum to China and secured Kiaochow and 117 square 
miles of territory surrounding that port. As soon as one 
nation secured some concession, the other nations instigated 
efforts to secure an equal advantage. When China leased 
Weihaiwei to Great Britain, she had to lease Kwangchow 
to France. 

It was a succession of events such as these which formed 
the background for the Boxer uprising in 1900, from which 



20 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

China emerged humiliated in the eyes of the world and 
finally convinced that the "foreign devils" had come to stay. 

The weakness of the Manchu dynasty in dealing with 
foreigners, coupled with internal changes, made for the 
Revolution in 191 1. Since that time the Chinese people 
have been feeling their way carefully and on the whole 
peacefully. The oldest nation is now the newest republic. 

China is in great difficulty, no doubt. Her task is made 
none the easier by foreign interference, prompted by vari- 
ous motives. Impatience on the part of foreigners at her 
slowness in reaching a stable form of government shows a 
woeful lack of historical perspective. There are two vir- 
tues which should characterize the attitude of foreign gov- 
ernments. These virtues are illustrated by the following 
story from the Sung Dynasty. 

In 960 A. D. there was in Kiukiang on the Yangtse River 
a family which had lived together for fourteen generations. 
Having 1,200 members and finding their provisions insuf- 
ficient, the government granted them assistance on account 
of their family loyalty. In another case, the emperor hav- 
ing asked the head of a family whose members had lived 
together in peace for nine generations what was the secret 
of their ability to continue together so long without a break, 
the patriarch wrote the word forbearance one hundred 
times. Will the great nations, made greater by suffering, 
grant assistance to China and exercise forbearance after 
this war ? Or will they attempt to use her to recoup some 
of their losses? 

Material Development 

When one comes to the possibilities of developing the 
material resources in China, it is difficult to speak moder- 
ately. 

First of all, China lies in the zone of power in which the 



CHINA 21 

most masterful nations have operated (18 latitude north — 
54 latitude south), a stretch equal to that from Guatemala 
to Labrador. Including Mongolia, Manchuria, Eastern 
Turkestan, Tibet, and the eighteen provinces, the whole 
area covers over 5,000,000 square miles, or more than twice 
the area of the United States, forty-seven times that of 
Great Britain, forty times that of Germany or France, one 
and one-half the area of Europe, or one-tenth of the habit- 
able globe. 

In the eighteen provinces are 600,000,000 acres of splen- 
did soil. North of Harbin, Manchuria, China possesses 
300,000 square miles of territory, or three times the area 
of Japan, of which not one-tenth is under cultivation. The 
Amur River, the old dividing line between China and Rus- 
sian Siberia, is navigable for more than 2,000 miles, and is 
fed by great numbers of smaller navigable arteries, the 
total length of water being estimated at 42,000 miles. Mil- 
lions of cattle could be fed on the grassy plains in this little- 
known region, and one expert holds that 8,000,000 fine trees 
could be cut out every year for hundreds of years without 
in any way destroying the existence or usefulness of the 
forests. 

Iron and coal have come to be the mainstays of our civili- 
zation. The European iron fields are beginning to be ex- 
hausted. Great Britain has practically consumed its store. 
In America the iron fields have been noted and marked out. 
In China iron and coal occur widely and together, under 
favorable labor and climatic conditions, and 419,000 square 
miles are already officially reckoned as being underlaid with 
coal. Up to the present the amount of coal and iron in 
China has been of greater interest to foreign powers than 
to China herself. 

A German expert, Baron Richtofen, after a laborious in- 
vestigation lasting many years, submitted to the German 



22 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

government a three-volume report on the coal and iron 
resources of China, showing that they are the richest in the 
world. He found coal in fifteen of the eighteen provinces 
examined by him. It was his estimate that in the province 
of Shansi alone there was enough coal to supply the world 
"for several thousand years at its present rate of consump- 
tion." Side by side existed vast deposits of iron ore. The 
German government was so amazed that it sent an expert 
commission to China in 1897 to reexamine the Baron's data. 
The commission "fully verified Baron Richtofen's esti- 
mates." It will be noted that Kiaochow Bay in Shantung 
which the Germans secured, also in 1897, is the nearest open 
seaport to these stores. A railroad was built half-way from 
the coast to the Shansi border. What would it mean to any 
nation to have access to 14,000 square miles of anthracite 
averaging twenty-one feet thick? 

A railroad is being projected from Canton, in south 
China, to Hankow, on the Yangtse River, to which city 
large ocean-going steamers have easy access. This railroad 
passes through 850 miles of the richest coal and iron fields 
in the world. Perhaps Gladstone had China also in mind 
when he said, "No nation can remain permanently great 
that does not have an adequate physical basis of empire." 
China's resources in area and the geographical distribution 
of her rivers and mineral wealth are staggering in their 
vastness, unparalleled and incalculable. The development 
of these resources will make easier such difficult tasks as 
reforestation and flood control, the building of railroads, 
the dredging of canals, rivers, and harbors, the building 
of a merchant marine, the reorganization of her financial 
system, the stabilizing of her government, the building of 
schools, and the general rehabilitation of the country in the 
light of new world conditions. 

That China has the man-power necessary to develop her 



CHINA 23 

resources is granted on every hand. In fact most people 
think China is overpopulated. We speak of China as hav- 
ing a fourth of the human race. Naturally they must hold 
the record for density of population. Here are some com- 
parisons : 

Country Population per square mile 

Belgium 654 (before her decimation by Germany) 

Great Britain. .. 360 

Germany 310 

Japan 270 

India 180 

China 97 (including her dependencies) 

But the above statement is not the whole population 
story. About 95 per cent of the people of China are con- 
fined to one-third of the area of the country, with a density 
of 200 to the square mile. Only 5 per cent of the population 
inhabits 65 per cent of the area, with a density of 10 to the 
square mile. All China has but 6,467 miles of railway. The 
largest interests of the country are still primarily agri- 
cultural in nature. When modern scientific methods of 
agriculture are introduced, transportation facilities de- 
veloped, the bare hills reforested, and mines in the moun- 
tains opened, there will undoubtedly take place a gradual 
redistribution of the population. One of the last things 
the Chinese have in mind as a remedy for the congestion 
in certain localities is an "invasion" peaceful or otherwise 
into other lands, as certain sensational papers would 
have us believe. China's greatest future lies in developing 
her own resources, and in this she ought to have the sym- 
pathetic and friendly cooperation of the great powers. 
Even selfishly speaking, more benefits will accrue to them 
from following this policy than from continuing any other. 



24 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

Educational Outlook 

The great impetus to political change and material de- 
velopment in China up to the present time has been contact 
with foreign nations. Students educated in western learn- 
ing, both in China and abroad, have played leading parts. 
No one can measure the influence upon China of the young 
Chinese who in the earlier years went to Europe and Amer- 
ica to study. The leaders of the new China are mostly 
men of this type. It is they who are back of the general 
awakening of China. 

The beginning of this practice of sending students abroad 
took place in 1872 when Dr. Yung Wing, the "Father of 
the Chinese Returned Students," took over to the United 
States a group of thirty young students under the auspices 
of the Government. The stream of students going and 
returning has been increasing ever since. 

Perhaps an even greater factor has been the establish- 
ment of schools in China with combined Chinese and west- 
ern curricula. The following facts were compiled by the 
German Association of Shanghai : 

Number Scholars 

German Schools in China 197 5>3&5 

English Schools in China 1,686 40*055 

American Schools in China 2,278 67,394 

The new Chinese system of education includes many 
features to be found in western schools. 

The immensity of the educational problem, however, is 
indicated by the statement of Mr. David Z. T. Yui, Gen- 
eral Secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association 
of China, who says, "Ninety-five per cent of the people are 
illiterate." But the western learning is already rooted in 
China, the mental revolution already in progress. With 



CHINA 25 

its growth it will be impossible for China to revert to a 
despotic form of government, or for progress in material 
development to be kept back. 

Spiritual Aspects 

The Chinese will realize for themselves, as their ex- 
perience grows, that the fundamental defect of secular west- 
ern education is that it creates ideals which it is impos- 
sible for man by merely human strength to attain. As 
Bishop Bashford says, "If the Chinese can once recognize 
that while man was originally made in the image of God, 
he has, in some strange manner, degenerated from his high 
estate, and if they once adopt Christianity as essential to 
their spiritual nature, very possibly they will make a wider 
and deeper use of it than we are making in the West. If 
they discard the false barrier between nature and the 
supernatural, seek new life and power for their daily tasks 
through Christ and the indwelling Spirit; if the Far East 
bravely meets the crisis which now confronts her and not 
only westernizes but Christianizes her education, then China, 
because of the tremendous break-up of old customs and 
institutions, has perhaps as bright a prospect for the future 
as America or Europe. If, along with her outworn civili- 
zation, she puts aside the half -Christian, half -pagan civili- 
zation of America and Europe, with its worship of material 
success, its glorification of war, its indulgence of lust and 
worldly pride, and accepts Christianity in earnest, she may 
surpass the Western world in realizing the New Humanity 
in Christ." 

This is the hope of the future. Unless the nations of the 
world change from the directions in which they are now 
moving and try to attain this end, the picture of future 
world relations is dark indeed. Now the white races num- 
ber 51 per cent of the world's population, but they control 



26 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

five continents and part of the sixth. The yellow races, 
numbering only 36 per cent of the world's population, are 
confined to a portion of a single continent. In this con- 
tinent is to be found the treasury store-house of the future. 
Is the command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" 
a star to steer by, or is it drooling piffle? Is the picture 
which Christian nations have painted before the non-Chris- 
tian nations an indication that Christianity is a failure or 
is it evidence that man has failed to grasp the principles 
of Christ? Is there anything through which can be solved 
the moral difficulties of the individual Chinese and his 
national and international questions except the principles 
of Jesus Christ? 

It may be that the world will have to go through still 
further agonies before man will admit his inability to carry 
world loads in the right direction and to the right ends, in 
his own strength. Never before in the history of the world 
has man been face to face with his own weaknesses as 
now. Whether he admits the fact now or later remains to 
be seen, but only Christ will ever be able to lead the world 
through the maze of future difficulties. In the smaller 
nations He is known to some extent, even if His principles 
seem interwoven with those of man. But the great nations 
on the west side of the Pacific basin do not as yet know 
Him. 

World leadership for the day after tomorrow belongs to 
the young men of today. Any organization, therefore, 
which relates itself to young men must realize that the pro- 
gram it sets up has a great deal of significance attached to 
it. No greater need in China exists than the establishment 
of spiritual values. The Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion, already firmly established and growing rapidly in 
China, has unusual opportunities to apply the benefits of 
experience gained in other countries. This organization 



CHINA 27 

is finding itself in this war. It lives right in the middle of 
the lives of young men, whether in times of peace or in 
war. But no task which it has confronted in the past is 
so great or so meaningful as the one facing it in China. 
Through it and other Christian channels must flow a knowl- 
edge of Christ to the young men of Asia, if the world is 
ever to become one family and a Kingdom of Heaven on 
earth. No other power under the heavens can take this 
old world and mold it to that end. 

This sick world needs Christ. His life on earth began 
in Asia, but His teaching happened to be carried westward 
instead of eastward. Two civilizations sprang up. They 
are about to meet again on the rim of the Pacific. Will 
reawakened China complete the cycle of civilization? To- 
day the principles of Christ are hovering near the shore of 
His mother continent, ready to be taken possession of by 
the people of Asia. Shall not the Chinese young men of this 
and coming generations welcome Him in a way in which 
He never was welcomed before? That is our one hope. 
Then only can take place that "union of continents, climates, 
and oceans," with man dwelling in peace with his neighbor. 

References 

Free use has been made of the books and articles by the 
following writers, to whom acknowledgment is hereby 
given : 

Bishop James W. Bashford, "China: An Interpretation." 

B. L. Putnam Weale, "The Fight for the Republic in 
China." 

Charles Ernest Scott, "China from Within." 
China Continuation Committee, "China Mission Year 
Book." 

Latourette's "History of China." 

C. Y. Tang, "China — the Cradle of Civilization." 
N. S. Shaler, in The International Quarterly. 



Ill 

THE INDIAN EMPIRE 

Howard Arnold Walter 
Literary Secretary of the Indian National Council, 1912-1918 

Introduction 

When you think of India you must think not so much 
of a nation as of a continent. With an area fifteen times 
that of the British Isles (1,802,192 sq. miles), a population 
three times that of the United States (317,653,000), with 
675 semi-independent native states in addition to the four- 
teen provinces directly subject to the British Government, 
with its people speaking 147 distinct languages, of which 
twenty-three are each used by at least a million, and with 
many different races and religions represented in its hetero- 
geneous population, India has been a problem of no little 
magnitude for the British Government, which has sought 
to weld all of these diverse elements into a united people, 
and for the Christian Church, which has undertaken the 
gigantic task of uniting the Indian people, religiously, in the 
universal Church of Jesus Christ. 

How extensive has been the influence already exerted 
upon India from the West is shown by the fact, brought 
out by Dr. J. N. Farquhar, one of the literary secretaries 
of the Young Men's Christian Association of India, in his 
book, "Modern Religious Movements in India," that the 
great awakening which has come to India in the last cen- 
tury, along religious, industrial, social, political, and intel- 

28 



THE INDIAN EMPIRE 29 

lectual lines, has been due chiefly to the cooperation of two 
forces, the British Government and Protestant Missions, 
together with the impression created in India by the work 
of the leading Orientalists of the West. Therefore, al- 
though as yet only a small percentage of the population 
(4,287,000) is Christian, the leaven of the Gospel has per- 
meated all classes of Indian society and has exerted an 
influence out of all proportion to the number of actual con- 
verts from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. 

Protestant missionary history in India began with the 
Danish Mission which worked in the Tamil country through 
the eighteenth century, but the modern missionary epoch 
really commenced with the arrival of William Carey, an 
English Baptist, in Calcutta in 1793. He was followed by 
his two distinguished colleagues, Marshman and Ward, and 
thereafter, throughout the nineteenth century, the number 
of missionaries multiplied very rapidly and the missionary 
enterprise spread out into all parts of the Empire and into 
all phases of altruistic activity — educational, evangelistic, 
industrial, medical, and social. 

It was not until the year 1887 that there was added to 
these diverse forms of Christian service, in India, the 
Young Men's Christian Association. The late Dr. Jacob 
Chamberlain came to Northfield in that year, to urge upon 
the leaders of the American Movement the sending of an 
Association secretary to India. The missionaries had in- 
creasingly come to feel that in addition to the regular de- 
nominational missionary agencies, the great interdenomina- 
tional Association movement was needed to serve in part 
as a bond linking together the other missionary bodies in 
various forms of united service, and in part as a demon- 
stration to the people of India that Christianity in the West, 
in spite of its superficial divisions, is actually one in spirit 
and purpose. The purpose of the North American Associa- 



30 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

tions in responding to this call was to plant in India a 
self-propagating and self-directing Association Movement, 
on the lines of the Western model, which would give to the 
young men of India an opportunity to express through this 
organization their Christian life and to demonstrate in its 
service the principles of Christ. 

The first secretary of the International Committee in 
India, David McConaughy, sailed from this country in 
October, 1889. To show how rapidly and how sincerely 
his work, and that of his associates who followed him, came 
to be appreciated by the missionaries in India, let me quote 
from a resolution passed by the Decennial Missionary Con- 
ference in Madras in 1902: 

"The Conference hereby records its hearty and thorough 
appreciation of the work of The Young Men's Christian 
Association in India, Burma, and Ceylon. The Conference 
commends its general principles and methods, and affec- 
tionately accords to those engaged in its work its prayers 
and fellowship, and emphasizes the strong claim which the 
Young Men's Christian Association work in India has al- 
ready established upon the prayers, sympathy, and support 
of the home churches." 

The Young Men's Christian Association came to India, 
then, at the call of the Christian missionaries, and it has 
remained, growing steadily in numbers and usefulness, at 
the service of the Indian Christian Church. The aim of 
the Association in India from the first, in both national and 
local work, has been to make the foreign secretaries dis- 
pensable : that is, to create a truly indigenous movement by 
replacing American and English secretaries and members of 
the boards of directors with Indian Christians, just as 
rapidly as this could wisely be done. 

As we consider the manifold ramifications of Indian 
Association work, we shall see that there already exist in 



THE INDIAN EMPIRE 31 

that country very nearly all the varieties of Association 
activities that we have under the International Committee 
in America, but in addition the work in India is vastly 
extended and complicated by all the added relationships 
involved in the fact that it is there set down in the midst 
of a non-Christian environment, with all the problems and 
opportunities which such a situation presents. 

The City Association 

In considering the work of the city Associations in India 
we shall take a typical one and make it the illustration and 
point of departure for our general survey of this type of 
work as it has developed in the Indian Empire. Our ex- 
ample shall be the city of Lahore, the capital of the great 
northern province of the Punjab. This city is the eighth 
in size in India, with a population of over 225,000, divided 
between Mohammedans, Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians in 
the order named. It is the army divisional headquarters 
for the province. It is the seat of the Punjab Anglican and 
Roman Catholic cathedrals and of the University of the 
Punjab. Here the Young Men's Christian Association has 
been established for about twenty years and, as in other 
Indian cities, is the one organization in the city where 
men of every race and religion and station in life can 
meet in a Christian environment for wholesome fellow- 
ship, healthful recreation, intellectual improvement, and 
religious culture. 

Religious 

First of all, it is the servant of the Indian Christian 
Church and of the Christian missionaries, in providing a 
center where Christians of every denominational preference 
can meet for united worship and service. Prayer meetings, 
Bible classes, open air and chapel preaching, and personal 



32 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

work are some of the forms of service in which Anglicans, 
Presbyterians, Methodists, and Plymouth Brothers, for ex- 
ample, can and do unite under Young Men's Christian 
Association auspices. The Association has provided a 
similar rallying center for national united evangelistic effort. 
The National General Secretary of the Association has 
served as one of the two secretaries of the interdenomina- 
tional Continuation Committee, with representatives from 
all the important missionary bodies, which is an outgrowth 
of the Edinburgh Missionary Conference in 1910. Peri- 
odically the Association brings to India men like John R. 
Mott and Sherwood Eddy, who conduct evangelistic cam- 
paigns within the Indian Church as well as among Hindus 
and Mohammedans. Since the outbreak of the War, a 
number of prominent Christian leaders of Great Britain, 
men like the late Professor John Hope Moulton, of Man- 
chester, and Professor T. R. Glover, of Cambridge, have 
been brought to India by the Association as part of a "mis- 
sion of friendly service," to give evangelistic and apologetic 
addresses to Christians and non-Christians in the leading 
cities of India. The great objective of all of the Associa- 
tion's activity in uniting Christian workers for aggressive 
service is, of course, the winning of India for Christ, and 
all of the departments of the city Association are con- 
sidered as instruments to that end. 

Social 

In India as in the West there is the very important social 
side of the Association's work, but in a non-Christian land 
like India the Association gives the added opportunity for 
men of other faiths to be brought into friendly contact with 
Indian Christians, missionaries, Christian business men, 
and Government officials. The longer one lives in India, the 
more he realizes the terrible grip which the caste system 



THE INDIAN EMPIRE 33 

has on the minds and hearts of the people of India, acting 
as a menacing drag on the wheels of progress in every 
direction. The social work of the Young Men's Christian 
Association has been one of the potent forces tending to 
destroy this iniquitous system. A prominent missionary in 
Madras declared that the public dining room of the Madras 
Association alone had made a great contribution to that 
end, as Hindus, including those of the Brahman caste, have 
acquired the habit of eating there despite the violence done 
to their inherited caste prejudices. The late Dr. Chas. R. 
Henderson, whose lectures on social service and reform in 
India in 1914-1915 did so much to advance the cause of 
genuine progress toward social reform and democracy, says 
of the Association: "One of the most effective pieces of 
social machinery in the East: it is catholic, earnest, spirit- 
ual, ready for practical service." 

The Association through its campaign of friendship is 
teaching India that character is more important than caste. 
Here is where the wives of the secretaries, through the 
hospitality of their homes, in which Indians of every class 
are entertained, as well as through their friendly inter- 
course with the wives of the men whom the Association 
is helping, have found a splendid opportunity for effective 
service. What has been said of the value of social work 
among Hindus is true also in a different way among the 
sixty odd million Mohammedans of India, as well. Pro- 
fessor D. B. Macdonald, of Hartford, the great American 
authority on Mohammedanism, has said and written re- 
peatedly that the social work and service of the Young 
Men's Christian Association is peculiarly adapted to the 
winning of Mohammedans, because through it they are 
drawn into friendly relations with Christians without being 
at once antagonized on the side of their stiff religious 
prejudices. 



34 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

Of course, the opportunity for social intercourse and 
culture, which the Association affords, is only the intro- 
duction to various forms of unselfish social service which, 
in turn, lead ultimately into the realm of the religious life. 
The call of the hour in India today is for men who can 
forget their inherited prejudices and provincialisms and 
unite in the common service of the "Motherland." Some 
years ago, prominent and progressive Indians like Justice 
Ranade, Mr. Gokhale, Mr. Natarajan, the editor of the 
Indian Social Reformer, and others, united in forming a 
society called "The Servants of India," the aim of which 
was fearless progress and reform all along the line. The 
similar ideal which the Young Men's Christian Association 
is holding before itself and before the young men of India 
is the forgetting of all differences of pride and of prejudice 
in lowly service for the enfranchisement, the well-being, 
and the salvation of the more than 300,000,000 inhabitants 
of India. The old type of holy man, whose time and inter- 
est were absorbed in self-centered, spiritual culture, is 
rapidly passing away. Progressive newspapers and Indian 
reformers are declaring that the great army of useless 
ascetics and sadhus, which impedes the onward march of 
progress, must somehow be made to contribute to the high- 
est welfare of India, through engaging in some species of 
morally profitable labor. The Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation, with its fourfold program which embraces the 
whole man, spiritual, mental, physical, and social, is the 
ideal agency of the Church for the furthering of the new 
ideal of holiness, which is Christianity's great contribution 
to the India of the future. 

Nearly all of the city Associations are engaging in some 
form of social service, in which Christians and non-Chris- 
tians are uniting. For example, in Lahore, in 191 5, the 
Association undertook the first scientific social survey ever 



THE INDIAN EMPIRE 35 

made in the city. In Rangoon and Colombo the Associa- 
tion undertook and carried through successful purity cam- 
paigns, by means of which public opinion was educated and 
aroused on the subject of prostitution. In Bangalore, in 
the palace of His Highness the Maharajah of Mysore, the 
Bangalore Social Service League was organized in 191 5, 
with the General Secretary of the Young Men's Christian 
Association as its secretary. In the same city fifteen Indian 
Christians, after a study of the needs of the outcasts of the 
city, founded a night school for these "untouchables" in one 
of the worst quarters of the city. And, finally, the Jub- 
bulpore Association, to mention only one other of many, has 
opened a home in the Indian city, where a night school, 
games, and social activities are carried on for the benefit 
of the poor. 

Physical 

Turning now to the physical department of the city As- 
sociation, it can easily be seen that the work which the 
Association has done in the West — in pioneering the new 
ideal of Christianity in which the importance of physical as 
well as spiritual soundness has been emphasized because of 
the close relationship between the two — must be even more 
needed in India, where the holy man of old believed that 
the culture of the spirit could take place only along with 
the mortification and neglect of the body. It was, there- 
fore, a momentous day for India when, in 1908, Dr. J. H. 
Gray, the first trained Association physical director to come 
out to the East, landed in India and began his epoch-mak? 
ing work. Within a few years the Government of India 
was commending Dr. Gray's methods as worthy to be stand- 
ardized throughout the Empire. A memorandum was sent 
to the Directors of Public Instruction of all the provinces, 
referring to the methods and the success of Dr. Gray's work 



36 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

in the realm of physical education in Bengal Province. He 
was asked to edit and enlarge the standard book of in- 
struction for Government drill masters throughout India 
and he was also asked to recommend the physical equipment 
of the new model university of Dacca in Bengal. The 
Association is taking the lead in the playground movement 
in India, and now conducts a school for drill masters and 
physical directors in Bombay. At the outbreak of the war 
in 19 14, Association leaders were organizing the first na- 
tional athletic meet for Indians that had ever been projected, 
which had the official sanction of the Viceroy, the Com- 
mander-in-chief of the army, the governors and lieutenant- 
governors of all the provinces, and of important ruling 
chiefs, including the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Gaekwar 
of Baroda, and the Maharajahs of Mysore and Travancore. 
Owing to the war this meet had to be temporarily postponed. 
American physical directors are at present pioneering on a 
large scale in Madras, Hyderabad, Lahore, and Calcutta, 
engaged in work for the Government as well as the Associa- 
tion, and there are also a number of trained Indian direc- 
tors. Dr. Gray is now National Physical Director for the 
whole of India and advisor to the Government of India in 
matters affecting the physical well-being of the Indian peo- 
ple. It can thus be seen that the entire modern movement 
of physical education in India, the importance of which the 
Government is increasingly realizing, is largely the product 
of Young Men's Christian Association experience and 
initiative. 

The physical department, like the social work, never loses 
sight of the religious objective which it has in view, and 
few missionaries in India have had such opportunities for 
Christian personal evangelism in dealing with individual 
Hindus, Mohammedans, and Buddhists, as have the Asso- 
ciation physical directors. 



THE INDIAN EMPIRE 37 



Educational 



In India, as in America, the educational work of the 
Association is growing rapidly as the years go by. The 
first trained American educational secretary, W. M. Hume, 
arrived in India and located in Lahore only four years ago ; 
but he and his associates, by their efficient and faithful 
service, have already made a deep impression on the Govern- 
ment and the Indian people of the Punjab. The evening 
classes of the Association, to which will probably be added 
in the near future day classes as well, provide education 
in commercial subjects and in English for men who have 
reached the matriculation standard in the university and 
wish to prepare themselves for business careers. This is 
of the first importance in India today, since the professions 
are overcrowded with college graduates, whereas the busi- 
ness offices are unable to find enough qualified clerks for 
responsible positions. The Association aims to provide, on 
a Christian foundation, the model business college of the 
province. The importance of this undertaking can be seen 
from the fact that the Vice-Chancellor of the University of 
the Punjab (Dr. J. C. R. Ewing), in his convocation ad- 
dress in 191 5, declared that means must immediately be 
found to provide for commercial education on a large scale 
parallel to that which is being given to candidates for pro- 
fessional careers. The men who attend the evening classes 
in Lahore are required to gather for fifteen minutes of Bible 
study each evening under the direction of Christian mem- 
bers of the staff, and from the classes many honest inquirers 
and several converts to Christianity have already come. 

The educational program in Lahore is setting the pace 
for what is being done in other Associations, as well as for 
a project, postponed by the war, which will probably be 
undertaken in the near future, of providing education along 



38 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

commercial lines for soldiers in the British Army, thus 
qualifying them for useful business careers when their time 
of army service expires. In addition to the classes in com- 
mercial subjects and in English, the educational program of 
the Association includes lectures on a great variety of sub- 
jects such as art, literature, science, travel, and present-day 
affairs, advantage of which is being taken eagerly by India's 
business men and students in all the cities where the As- 
sociation is established. 

European and Anglo-Indian 

Before leaving the sphere of the city Associations, a word 
must be said about the work that is being done for Euro- 
pean and Anglo-Indian young men in the large port cities 
like Bombay and Calcutta. The first few months of a 
young Englishman's business life in India are usually de- 
terminative of his character and immediate destiny, sur- 
rounded, as he is, by the strange and fascinating temptations 
of an Oriental city. Large numbers of these young men, 
whose lives hitherto have been upright and exemplary, soon 
succumb to the influence of evil associates and surroundings. 
The aim of the European Associations in the port cities 
is to draw these men into the Christian atmosphere of the 
Association and then project them forth into some form 
of Christian service at the very beginning of their careers 
in India. Many are the testimonials that have come to the 
secretaries of what this has meant to hundreds of the young 
Britishers, who have found a home and congenial friends 
as well as opportunities for service in the Christian Asso- 
ciation. 

The Student Association 

The student work of the Association in India is closely 
related to the city work. In several centers, for instance, 



THE INDIAN EMPIRE 39 

the Association has organized graduate clubs where men 
who were reached and helped in their undergraduate days 
are kept on in the atmosphere and service of the Association. 
Here, as in the city work, the primary responsibility is to 
the active members — that is, the Christians, through whom 
all missionary efforts for the service and evangelization of 
India must ultimately be achieved. 

Thus the American and British student secretaries have 
sought first of all to serve and befriend the Indian Chris- 
tian students, passing on all that they have received by in- 
heritance from the past centuries of Christian training and 
experience in the West. 

The Student Christian Association of India, designating 
the country's indigenous student movement, is only five 
years old, but it has been making wonderful progress. Mr. 
Frank V. Slack, a former leader of Association work in 
America, was loaned to the Indian Students' Christian As- 
sociation at its inception and, with his Indian colleague, Mr. 
Kuruvilla, did yeoman's service in organizing and uniting' 
in the national movement Christian Associations through- 
out the Christian colleges of India, Burma, and Ceylon. In 
a dozen different centers, summer conferences are held, 
and the Christian students are increasingly coming to realize 
the importance of their position of leadership in the Indian 
Christian Church and in the evangelization of India. 
Through them, primarily, the Association, in cooperation 
with the other missionary bodies at work among students, 
is reaching out to, touching, and winning, the students of 
the great non-Christian faiths. Never were they as ac- 
cessible to the Christian message as they are today. 

There are nearly 200 colleges for men in the Empire, and 
the Government has universities in Calcutta, Madras, Bom- 
bay, Lahore, and Allahabad. The men passing through 
these universities will surely be the leaders in a land where 



4 o THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

only twelve per cent of the male population can read and 
only sixty-five in a million are college graduates. As magis- 
trates, revenue officers, chiefs, lawyers, and inspectors of 
traffic and trade, they will exert a dominant influence in 
city and village and in government service, where 97 per 
cent of the posts are held by natives of India. The Asso- 
ciation, through its games, socials, educational lectures, 
evangelistic addresses, debates and oratorical contests, and 
many other forms of service, is endeavoring to serve and 
to win these lovable, active, forward-looking young men 
of India, who are breaking away from old superstitions and 
sanctions and must be attracted to the new ideal of all- 
round unselfish service for which the Church of Christ 
stands. 

The recent evangelistic campaigns of Mott and Eddy, as 
well as the work of many of the Indian secretaries like B. 
C. Sircar, have interested and challenged large numbers of 
students in all the great student centers, and the Associa- 
tion workers are seeking, day in and day out, in meetings 
and in personal contacts, to conserve the interest that has 
been aroused and to bring men out into definite commitment 
of themselves to Christ. Each year shows an increase in 
the number of men in Bible classes, and a larger number 
of baptisms among the university students whose interests 
the Association seeks to serve. In Calcutta, Bombay, Luck- 
now, Lahore, and Rangoon there are homelike hostels car- 
ried on by the Association where, forgetful of race and 
caste distinctions, a number of non-Christian and Christian 
students live together in wholesome fellowship, under the 
careful supervision of a Christian warden, and are expected 
to meet daily for prayers as well as weekly for Bible study. 
This has satisfied the very real need of the students for a 
decent home in the city and has also proved to be one of 
the most successful ways in which the personalities of Chris- 



THE INDIAN EMPIRE 41 

tian missionaries and Christian students can be brought to 
bear continuously and graciously on the impressionable, 
responsive, non-Christian students. In one of our Associa- 
tions the secretary reports a Hindu father as saying: "I 
would rather have my son live in the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association and lose his caste but keep his character 
than to have him live outside, to keep his caste but lose his 
character." 

As yet, actual baptisms have been comparatively few, but 
every worker among Christian students knows how many 
there are who are convinced in their hearts of the superiority 
of the Christian ethic and the supremacy of Christ as a 
moral leader, so that it seems certain that before very long 
we shall have some such "break" in the stone wall of preju- 
dice as has recently taken place among the literati of China, 
in which these young Indians in large numbers will unite 
with the small but aggressive Christian Church. 

Rural Work 

Passing on from the city and student approach to the 
rural work, the interesting and significant feature is the 
way in which it has been pioneered and carried on by Indian 
secretaries. The father of this enterprise is K. T. Paul, the 
distinguished Indian Christian, who was the first secretary 
of the indigenous National Missionary Society and is now 
the General Secretary of the National Council of the Young 
Men's Christian Association in India. It can truthfully be 
said that rural India is the real India, and the Government 
is devoting more and more time to the effort to uplift and 
assist the ubiquitous Indian villager. The chief agency in 
this work is what is called the cooperative movement, by 
means of which the economic condition of tens of thousands 
of depressed villagers has been elevated. In addition to 
the establishment of cooperative banks in many centers, 



42 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

agricultural reforms as well as elementary schools have 
been introduced in a number of districts. The rural depart- 
ment of the Young Men's Christian Association is linked 
up with this government enterprise and aims to provide the 
stimulus to moral and social reform and a practical demon- 
stration of the value of social service, which are so neces- 
sary if the Indian villager is to make the most of the oppor- 
tunities for advancement opening before him. There are 
now seven secretaries of the rural department and four 
more under training, all Indians. This work, which is 
spreading through South India and will soon move up into 
the north, promises much for the future of the Church of 
Christ in India. 

Literary Department 

We are beholding, in India, a period of literary renais- 
sance, of which the most conspicuous exponent is Sir 
Rabindranath Tagore. Year by year the percentage of 
literacy in India grows larger and the stream of literature 
pouring forth from Indian presses becomes broader and 
deeper. In 1914 Bishop Oldham urged the Association to 
sow India ankle deep in Christian literature for the edu- 
cated classes. The Association Press in India is seeking 
to discharge this obligation by considerably increasing the 
slender Christian current that flows through the larger 
literary stream. In addition to the activities of the Press, 
the Association in India now has three literary secretaries, 
graduates respectively of Oxford and Cambridge Universi- 
ties, in England, and Princeton, in America, who are seek- 
ing to give the Christian Church a position of leadership in 
the literary renaissance above mentioned. It is their prov- 
ince not only by their own writings to increase the quantity 
and improve the quality of the Christian literary output, 
but also to encourage and train others, among missionaries 



THE INDIAN EMPIRE 43 

and Indian Christians, to make some contribution to this 
great task of enabling literature to have its needful and 
important part in the winning of India for Christ. As 
specialists, they are students respectively of the Hindu, 
Buddhist, and Mohammedan religions, and it is their aim 
to represent to all the members of the Association brother- 
hood and to the Christian Church in general the right 
Christian method of approach, which shall be sympathetic, 
and scholarly and at the same time deeply and loyally Chris- 
tian, to these mighty non-Christian faiths in India, Burma, 
and Ceylon. In several series of volumes which are now 
appearing from the Oxford Press, in England, under the 
editorship of Dr. Farquhar, the Association's specialist in 
Hinduism, numerous phases of the religious life of India, 
as well as of her art, literature, and history, are being treated 
by competent Christian scholars, who in their work seek 
to reveal the fact that Christianity is more interested than 
any other religion in uncovering and presenting to the 
world representative examples of India's great spiritual 
heritage out of the past. In addition to these three special- 
ists, several Indian Christians are giving considerable time 
to literary work, and it is the ideal of the Association in 
India that every secretary shall make a special study of 
some small section of this field and so make his contribu- 
tion to the knowledge and development of India as a whole. 

Army Work 

The army work, like the physical branch of the Asso- 
ciation's program in India, commenced in 1908 under the 
guidance of Joseph Callan. Under his able leadership there 
soon came into being at Bangalore a model army Associa- 
tion, which is probably as complete and efficient as any in 
the world. It was because of the impression made upon 
the Government of India by this successful piece of Asso- 



44 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

ciation enterprise that at the outbreak of the war, in 1914, 
the Government made it possible for the Association to 
take advantage of the unparalleled opportunity then pre- 
sented to serve the Indian troops at the front. 

For Indian Troops 

In July, 1 91 4, there were only five army secretaries and 
three army Associations in the whole of India. In October, 
when the first Indian expeditionary force, consisting of 
forty-seven troop-ships, two cruisers, and two battle-ships, 
sailed out of Bombay bound for Marseilles, there were 
twelve Young Men's Christian Association secretaries on 
board, five of them Indian and seven European. They were 
supplied with gramophones, cinemas, reading, writing and 
game tables, athletic supplies, and barber's utensils. On the 
journey out and after their arrival in France every con- 
ceivable form of social service was rendered, so that some 
time later, Mr. Callan was enabled to write : "Our institutes 
are being crowded out. Each night we have to close down 
by main force, and shut out crowds of men wanting letters 
written, shaves, hair-cuts, money changed, watches repaired, 
cinema shows, and lantern lectures. Already we have 
mailed 20,000 letters and 10,000 post-cards." 

Classes in French were conducted and shops were opened 
where such necessities and such little luxuries for the sepoy 
as matches, combs, mustard oil, soap, and curry stuffs were 
supplied at Indian prices. After a time, when the secre- 
taries were unable to supply the demand for the services 
of a barber, the Hindu sepoys began cutting each other's 
hair, free of charge, thus forming the first social service 
department of the work in France. 

One of the most important branches of service has been 
the writing of letters back to India for those sepoys who 
could not write themselves. It was soon found, however, 



THE INDIAN EMPIRE 45 

that in many cases no letters were coming back to them 
from India, and thereupon a letter-writing department was 
instituted in the Lahore Association, for the purpose of 
encouraging and making possible the writing of letters to 
the soldiers in France on the part of their relatives in India. 
In time there were as many as forty secretaries at work 
in France and as other Indian expeditionary forces went 
out to Mesopotamia and East Africa, many Association 
secretaries, both Indian and European, some of them loaned 
by the different mission boards, were at work among them. 
In January, 19 18, there were forty-one secretaries in Meso- 
potamia and eighteen in East Africa, who had gone out 
from India, in addition to thirty-three other secretaries from 
South Africa. 

One of the most significant developments of this army 
work among Indian soldiers has been the opportunity which 
it has afforded to the Indian Christian Church to develop 
initiative. From the first the effort was made to place a 
large measure of responsibility for the army work on the 
Indian Christian Church at home. As a majority of the 
Indian soldiers came from the Punjab, a conference of 
the representatives of the Indian Church from all that sec- 
tion of India was held at Lahore in February, 191 5, which 
resulted in the appointment of a committee charged with 
furthering the army Association work by securing the neces- 
sary money and men. How loyally the Indians themselves 
supported the work may be seen from a few illustrations. 
The students (mostly Mohammedans) of Edwards College, 
Peshawar, on the northwest frontier, voted to give to this 
work the sum of money, one hundred rupees, which was 
ordinarily devoted to college prizes, substituting simple 
certificates for the latter. The girls of the fourth high class 
of the Kinnaird School, Lahore, on their own initiative, 
organized a concert, the proceeds of which were given to 



46 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

the army work. A company of soldiers in Ferozepore took 
up a subscription among themselves to be sent to the front, 
to help maintain this unselfish service which they had 
heard was being rendered to their brothers in France. 

It can easily be understood how this ministry will react 
in India as the soldiers return to their homes and, in the 
years to come, relate their never-to-be-forgotten experi- 
ences at the front, always having a word to say about the 
service rendered by the Christian organization which was 
permitted to labor unselfishly in their midst. Already the 
results are becoming manifest. When one of the Indian 
secretaries of the Association at Delhi chanced to enter a 
railroad car where there were a number of wounded Indian 
soldiers just back from France, as soon as they learned 
that he was connected with the Association, they crowded 
about him, cheering and all trying to tell him at once the 
debt they felt they owed to the Young Men's Christian 
Association. Some time later, when Mr. Carter, the Na- 
tional General Secretary, wrote to the head of one of the 
missions in the Punjab, asking for the loan of a missionary 
for army work in France, he received word in reply that 
he might have any man in the mission whom he desired, 
adding that they had already found, as they traveled about 
the villages of the Punjab, that when they said they were 
brothers of the men serving with the troops in France a 
welcome was accorded them such as they would not have 
believed possible before the war. 

In another direction, also, this work will be of the utmost 
service to the Indian Christian Church, whose great need 
at present is for leadership within the ranks. Large num- 
bers of the strongest young Indian Christians from both 
North and South India went forth to France, Mesopotamia, 
and East Africa to engage in this enterprise and they will 
return, as some have done already, equipped with a train- 



THE INDIAN EMPIRE 47 

ing and experience and endowed with a faith and courage 
which will enable them to furnish to the Church, in the 
future, the leadership which it needs so much. 

For Territorials 

Another unique opportunity has been opened to the As- 
sociation by the war. On the day that the first Indian 
expeditionary force sailed for France, word came of the 
imminent arrival of 40,000 Territorial troops from Great 
Britain, who were to take the places of the regular army 
that had been sent to the front. Within a few weeks Asso- 
ciation privileges had been provided for them at twenty 
different cantonments, and forty-one secretaries were giv- 
ing full or part time to the work. Inasmuch as these sol- 
diers represented a high type of British manhood — many 
of them college graduates, others teachers, clerks, and 
mechanics — an effort was made not only to render the 
usual forms of Association army service, but also to intro- 
duce them to the best phases of Indian life and to ensure 
that they received a true and adequate impression of what 
the missionary enterprise is doing for the people of India. 
Lectures on various phases of Indian life were given by 
Association secretaries, missionaries, and Indian Christians. 
Mission study classes were conducted and in many places 
groups of Territorials were taken on small expeditions, 
which gave them an opportunity to observe for themselves 
mission work in city and country. The result has been that 
not only are these men returning to Great Britain informed 
and enthusiastic on the subject of India and Christian mis- 
sions in India, but it is known that a number of them 
purpose later to return to India as missionaries or Associa- 
tion secretaries. It is now the purpose of the Association, 
when the war is over, to continue this work, which has been 
done for the Territorials on so large a scale, as a permanent 



48 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

service to the men of the regular army, when they return 
once more to the normal routine of military life. 

The further development of this work, together with the 
conservation of the results of the army activities on the 
various fronts, constitutes one of the most important oppor- 
tunities facing the Association in India and will call for a 
large increase of resources in men and money in the com- 
ing years. 

For Prisoners of War 

Work that has been going on for interned prisoners of 
war at Ahmednagar comprises one little part of that unique 
service of reconciliation, carried on by the Association for 
prisoners of war in most of the belligerent countries. It 
happened — shall we say, providentially — that two of the 
Germans interned soon after the outbreak of hostilities 
were Association secretaries, and they were not long in 
beginning work among the 1,200 Germans detained in the 
prison camps concentrated at Ahmednagar. Soon an Amer- 
ican secretary was assigned to assist in that field, and study 
classes, lectures, concerts, religious services, and reading 
and recreation facilities were provided to help the men while 
away the weary months, and make the time actually profit- 
able for them. It is worthy of note that the larger part of 
the money for this work among German prisoners was first 
provided by a prominent British government official. 

Other Inviting Opportunities 

In addition to the general work of the Association, along 
the lines which we have sketched above, there are other 
phases in which what has been already achieved gives 
scarcely a hint of the opportunity of the future. There is 
room for only the briefest mention of the most important 
of these openings. 



THE INDIAN EMPIRE 49 

Industrial 

The industrial development of the Indian Empire is still 
in its infancy. What it may become is indicated by what 
has already been accomplished by the Tata Iron and Steel 
Company, the one large concern in India which is managed 
wholly by Indians and controlled by Indian capital. Several 
years ago the entire welfare work for the 8,000 employes 
of this company was given over to the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association to organize and carry on. This was done 
with remarkable success until recently, when a change of 
management in the concern brought about a cessation of 
these activities, which promises to be only temporary since 
the Association had abundantly demonstrated its value in 
many ways. The war is proving a spur to ambitious Indian 
business men, and all indications point to a rapid post- 
bellum development, which may furnish a call to the Asso- 
ciation to organize an industrial department on a large 
scale. 

Railway 

Tentative experiments in Association work have also 
been made among the 400,000 railway employes of the Gov- 
ernment of India, which operates the 30,000 miles and more 
of India's railways. At Jamalpur, the headquarters of the 
largest Indian railway, the first railway Association of 
India has been in operation for more than ten years. Of 
the success of the work the chief railway official at Jamal- 
pur has written as follows : 

"In the Railway Young Men's Christian Association, 
after an experience of twenty-nine years among the rail- 
way folk in India, I have found an organization which has 
it in its power to supply some of the most pressing needs 
of the daily life of the Indian railway man. I have known 
Jamalpur now for a period extending over twenty-six years 



50 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

and been closely associated with its gradual development. 
The past year has been the most active in its history from 
four points of view — social, educational, spiritual, and 
physical, which are all comprised in the work of the As- 
sociation." 

Several years have passed since that testimonial was 
given and many other railway officials and employes have 
since witnessed in most emphatic terms to the value of the 
work in Jamalpur, which is certainly one of the most suc- 
cessful railway Associations, as it is unquestionably one of 
the best pieces of all-round Association work now being 
done in India. In the summer camps of several of the 
railways the Association has rendered successful service 
and it is not too much to hope that some day the welfare 
work of the Association will be extended over many of the 
railway systems of India as it now is of America. 

Boys' Work 

The boys of India are of such potential importance to 
the future development of her vast population that it is 
surprising that they have been neglected for so long. Neither 
Hinduism, Buddhism, nor Mohammedanism is qualified or 
equipped to serve the boy along the lines laid down by 
modern child psychology and emphasized in the work of the 
Christian Church and the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion in the West. The Association, with its long experience 
in this field, is naturally the ideal force to lead the way in 
providing for the training, in service and character building, 
of the boys of India. For some time the Association secre- 
taries in India who have had experience in boys' work have 
been engaged in thinking out a new organization adapted 
to India's needs and opportunities and free from the dis- 
advantages for India's youth of the Boy Scout Movement 



THE INDIAN EMPIRE 51 

and the Boys' Brigade. One brilliant Indian secretary with 
American training is specializing in boys' work and several 
others are giving considerable time to this department. In 
Calcutta, C. S. Paterson has for some years carried on a 
very successful boys' Association and hostel, in a building 
donated by the Hon. John Wanamaker. In other cities 
boys' work has been commenced, but in this department 
also the Association has made only a slight beginning in a 
field of enormous promise. 

The Development of Personality 

One of the noteworthy contributions made by the Indian 
Young Men's Christian Association to the Church of Christ 
in India, and indeed in the West as well, has been the de- 
velopment of outstanding personalities, whose training in 
Association service has greatly enhanced their usefulness 
in Christian work whether within or outside of the ranks 
of the Association. It is worth while to note some of the 
men now in the service of the Church or of the Association 
in America who have benefited by their early Association 
service in India. Among these might be mentioned David 
McConaughy, now with the Presbyterian Board of Foreign 
Missions, Ross A. Hadley, with the Friends' Mission Board, 
J. Lovell Murray, Mission Study Secretary of the Student 
Volunteer Movement, Wilbert W. White, President of the 
Bible Teachers' Training School in New York, his brother, 
J. Campbell White, formerly of the Laymen's Missionary 
Movement and now president of Wooster College, Ohio, 
and R. P. Wilder and Sherwood Eddy of the International 
Committee. It is of interest also to observe how many 
of the American and British secretaries in India are helping 
at present in the non-Indian army work of the Association 
in the various war zones. For example there are E. C. 
Carter, Joseph Callan, and Oliver McCowen in France; R. 



52 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

L. Ewing, J. G. Harley, K. J. Saunders, T. R. Ponsford, 
and F. T. Young, in England; William Jessop, in Egypt; 
W. T. Wilson, in Greece ; and A. C. Harte, in Russia. 

When one turns to the Indian secretariat, this develop- 
ment of personality within the Association is perhaps even 
more striking. There, for example, is B. C. Sircar, a former 
Hindu yogi, who was converted through the instrumentality 
of J. Campbell White, when the latter was a secretary of 
the Calcutta Association. A graduate of Calcutta Uni- 
versity and of a Toronto Bible college, who served as secre- 
tary in Rangoon and Calcutta before joining the National 
staff as organizing and evangelistic secretary for Bengal 
and Orissa, he has few if any peers among Indian leaders 
of any religious faith in eloquence of speech, devotion to 
duty, and charm of personality. He has been one of the 
most successful speakers in the army Associations during 
the last three years in addition to his unremitting and in- 
valuable services to the Church and the Association in 
Bengal. K. T. Paul is another Indian Christian leader who 
owes and has given much to the Association and who in 
the absence of Mr. Carter in Europe, is the secretarial head 
of the entire Association movement in India, Burma, and 
Ceylon. In his four years as an Association secretary, he 
has steadily grown in executive ability, prophetic faith, and 
insight into character, so that he has won the whole-hearted 
loyalty of both the Indian and European members of the 
staff and is honored and beloved from one end of India to 
the other. The first and as yet the only Indian Bishop of 
the Anglican Church, V. S. Azariah, is another product of 
the Association movement, being one of those who repre- 
sented the Indian Association, with Mr. Sircar, at the 
World's Christian Student Federation Conference in Tokio, 
Japan, in 1907. He is rarely gifted in many directions and 
since his transference from the secretarial ranks, continues 



THE INDIAN EMPIRE 53 

to serve the Association in many ways, as opportunity 
offers, during his episcopal journeys and visits. 

Twenty years ago, when J. H. Oldham, now the editor of 
the International Review of Missions in Edinburgh, was 
student secretary of the Lahore Association, one of the 
most intelligent and earnest of the Indian youths whom 
he gathered around him was a slim young fellow by the 
name of S. K. Datta. He attributes to his fellowship with 
Mr. Oldham, in the friendly atmosphere of the Association, 
the religious awakening and development, as the result of 
which he is today one of the half-dozen recognized leaders 
of the Indian Christian Church. While acting as a travel- 
ing secretary of the British Student Movement, after finish- 
ing his medical course in Edinburgh, he wrote the authorita- 
tive mission study text-book called "The Desire of India." 
He then returned to India to be a professor in Forman 
Christian College, Lahore, the position from which he 
secured leave in 191 5 to serve with the Indian troops in 
France, where he remains at this writing. On his return 
to India he has consented to become a full-time secretary 
of the Association, at the same time helping the Indian 
Church in the many ways in which his rare abilities will 
be of service. 

One thinks also of the many stalwart young Indians who 
have been in the service of the Association in France, 
Mesopotamia, and East Africa, many of whom will return 
to India to enter the secretaryship of the Young Men's 
Christian Association, while all of them will contribute their 
foreign experience and training to the development of the 
Church in India. There is Dina Nath, formerly a secretary 
of the National Missionary Society, who, on a furlough 
from army work in France, attended a gathering in Great 
Britain of the militant anti-Christian reforming society 
within Hinduism, known as the Arya Samaj, and made a 



54 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

deep impression by his personality and his public addresses. 
Another who went out from India to France was Rev. B. 
M. Roy, an Indian Christian pastor, who likewise visited 
Great Britain on a furlough. While strolling through Hyde 
Park in London one afternoon, he listened as long as he 
could to an address by an agnostic who was viciously at- 
tacking the Christian faith. He then interrupted and asked 
if he might say a few words. The speaker was delighted 
at this opportunity, as he supposed, to have his remarks 
corroborated by a Hindu, and was as surprised as the 
audience was delighted when Roy declared emphatically 
that much that had been said was wholly untrue and that 
he could prove it, as he proceeded to do in a forceful and 
cogent exposition of Christian truth. 

These few cases will show how rapidly the Association 
is attaining its ideal of developing qualities of Indian leader- 
ship which, among other things, will make possible the 
thorough Indianizing of the Association movement. At 
Bangalore, in Mysore, a training school for prospective As- 
sociation workers is being conducted which, year by year, 
is growing in number of pupils, in efficiency, and in useful- 
ness, as more and more of the choicest Christian young men 
of India determine to enter the Association ranks and desire 
to obtain Association training. 

Conclusion 

In what has been written above, we have tried to present 
a general birds'-eye view of Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion work in India and have purposely avoided giving an 
array of statistics. It might be well, however, to quote 
from the last "Foreign Mail Annual" — that of 191 6 — some 
statistics for the preceding year, which will give an idea of 
the scope of the movement in the twenty-fifth year of its 
presence and work in India. There were just under 200 



THE INDIAN EMPIRE 55 

active Associations, each having from one to five branches, 
the smallest with a handful of members, the largest, the 
Colombo Association, with over 1,000. The total member- 
ship was nearly 12,000, of which three-quarters were Indians 
and more than one-half non-Christians. There were then 
190 secretaries, of whom ninety-five were Indian, fifty-one 
British, forty-one American, and three Continental. The 
Prayer Cycle of the Association for February and March, 
1 91 7, shows 263 secretaries in the service of the Association 
at that time, which indicates how rapid has been the growth 
of the movement just during the latter period of the war. 
In 191 6, the Association owned a total of thirty-one build- 
ings in twenty-one cities valued at over $665,000. The total 
of buildings owned and rented by the Association was fifty- 
five. The budget for 1916 was $61,000 and the subscribers 
to the National Council budget numbered over 700. Turn- 
ing to the religious aspect of the work, there was a recorded 
attendance of nearly 30,000 in the Bible classes and 70,000 
in the devotional meetings in 191 6. During Mr. Eddy's 
meetings in centers like Palamcottah and Madura the Hindu 
audiences averaged 2,000 and 3,000 a night. Ten thousand 
Christians in South India were trained in Bible classes for 
work among non-Christians and in one special week of 
evangelism in the South India United Church, 8,000 volun- 
tary Christian workers carried the Gospel to over 3,800 
villages and to more than 300,000 hearers. The missionary 
who had most to do with preparing for this evangelistic 
movement in the south, Rev. H. A. Popley, has recently 
been loaned to the Association staff as its National evange- 
listic secretary. 

At a farewell meeting for a departing secretary in the 
Lahore Association, Professor Siraj ud Din, of the Forman 
Christian College staff, a member of the board of directors 
of the Association remarked that he always thought of the 



56 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

Association as the great mediating force in India. It seems 
to me that this best describes its unique field of service. As 
we have already shown, in its intensive and extensive work 
for Christians it serves to unite the various denominations 
of the Indian Church as well as the different missionary 
bodies. At the same time it has in many places helped to 
promote a better understanding between the missionaries 
and the Indian Christians by creating points of contact be- 
tween them and providing opportunities for social inter- 
course, where the distinction between East and West is 
obliterated and the Indian comes to forget his constant fear 
of missionary domination, which has often been more 
fancied than real. 

It serves likewise as a mediating force between British 
government officials and professional and business men, on 
the one hand, and missionaries and Indian Christians on 
the other, by bringing them together on the National Coun- 
cil and on the various local boards of directors. Many a 
British official has come to appreciate for the first time the 
need and value of Christian missionary work, as well as 
the genuine ability and the personal attractiveness of in- 
dividual Indian Christians, through the contacts afforded 
by membership in some Young Men's Christian Association 
board or on one of its committees. Innumerable unsolicited 
testimonials to the value of the work have been given by 
government officials all over India. The Hon. Mr. Stuart 
Fraser, a former British Political Resident of Hyderabad 
State, said, in assuming the presidency of the Hyderabad 
Association: "I am not accepting this office in order to be 
a figurehead, but because I wish to help the Association 
as much as I possibly can, for I have seen its work elsewhere 
and I believe in it." 

Similar reasons have prompted other prominent officials 
to engage actively in the work of the Association. His 



THE INDIAN EMPIRE 57 

Excellency the Viceroy is the patron of the National Coun- 
cil, Rajah Sir Harnam Singh, the only Indian Christian 
chief, is chairman of the National Council. One of the 
members of the Viceroy's Legislative Council is chairman of 
the executive committee. In the case of nearly every local 
Association the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor of the 
province is the patron, which holds true of Lahore, where 
the Lieutenant-Governor is a Roman Catholic. Further- 
more, the Government makes grants-in-aid to the work of 
every important Association in India. 

What is true of the British officials is equally true of non- 
Christian Indians who are prominent in public life, many 
of whom through their interest in the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association have gained a new and favorable impres- 
sion of missionary workers and also of Indian Christians, 
for whom formerly they may have entertained small re- 
gard. The Maharajah of Mysore donated a site of six and 
one-half acres for a city branch of the Mysore Association, 
and the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Maharajah of Travan- 
core, and other Indian princes have demonstrated in prac- 
tical ways their friendship for the Association. 

Altogether, to sum up the whole matter, the Association 
is one of the most effective and widespread forces mediat- 
ing between East and West along the whole line of their 
multiplying points of contact. As in the army work British 
and Indian soldiers for the first time have united in games 
and mingled on social occasions, so in other departments 
of the work the Association in India is proving the truth 
of the words of John Oxenham, that 

"In Christ there is no East or West, 
In Him no South or North, 
But one great fellowship of love 
Throughout the whole wide earth." 



58 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

References 

The following books are suggested for further reading : 
Sir Andrew Fraser, "Among Indian Rajahs and Ryots." 
J. P. Jones, "India, Its Life and Thought." 
Sherwood Eddy, "India Awakening." 
C. F. Andrews, "The Renaissance of India." 
Bernard Lucas, "The Empire of Christ." 



IV 

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 

J. M. Groves 

Secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association of Manila, 

1908-1915 

Descriptive and Historical 

Spain's dominion in the Philippine Islands, begun by 
Magellan's world-circling voyage in the early sixteenth cen- 
tury, and broken by Dewey's victory of May 1, 1898, in 
Manila Bay, lasted thus nearly four hundred years. To 
gather up the outstanding events of this long period, and 
against this background to study the more significant facts 
and tendencies of our own day, with the part belonging to 
the Young Men's Christian Association in the new Philip- 
pines, is our task in this chapter. 

In the Philippine group are over six hundred named and 
inhabited islands, and several times as many which are only 
tiny dots in the sea. This great achipelago stretches eighteen 
degrees or twelve hundred miles from its northern tip, 
within sight on a clear day of Formosa, to its southern end 
at 4 45' north latitude, south of the northern coast of 
Borneo. With a total area of 115,026 square miles, slightly 
less than that of Japan proper, the islands have a coast line 
more than twice that of the continental United States. 
Structurally, they are part of the great volcanic chain which 
stretches along the coast of Asia to the shores of Australia, 
and they contain several peaks eight to nine thousand feet 
high, some still active volcanoes. The climate is tropical, 

59 



60 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

the extremes of temperature ranging from 6o° to ioo° and 
the mean annual temperature from 8o° to 86° in various 
regions. A heavy rainfall, sometimes reaching 150 inches 
a year on the eastern coasts, and destructive windstorms are 
characteristic. Slight earthquakes are frequent, and de- 
structive shocks have occurred six times since 1600; volcanic 
eruptions, too, have occasionally disturbed the peace of these 
beautiful islands — the last, of Taal Volcano near Manila in 
191 1, having cost about 1,200 lives. 

The people of the Philippines (except the dwarf black 
aborigines, the Negritos, of whom perhaps 30,000 remain 
scattered through inaccessible mountains) are members of 
the Malay or brown race. The whole population is not 
far from 9,000,000. Of this total a large majority belong 
to the eight Christian tribes most influenced by Spanish 
civilization. The Moros, seafaring Mohammedans of the 
far south, and the Igorots and allied mountain tribes of 
north Luzon, are the more important of the sixteen minor 
divisions. In physical and mental traits and in language 
all the local groups resemble one another. But in these far- 
flung islands with their many tribal divisions and divergent 
creeds, customs, and dialects, there is sufficient variety to 
afford stimulating problems to the administrator and much 
interest to the sympathetic student of world affairs. 

The Spanish Conquest 

European discovery of the Philippines was a result of the 
search for the Spice Islands. But Philip II, for whom the 
islands were named, learning that few spices were found 
and that the colony was not proving a financial success, 
said, "That is not a matter of moment. I am an instrument 
in the conversion of the Kingdom of Luzon." Magellan 
himself was killed a month after his arrival in 1521 in 
battle, for a chief he had converted, against the king of a 



THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 61 

neighboring island. Not till a generation later, however, 
were permanent settlements established, the first at Cebu 
in 1565 and at Manila six years after by an expedition sent 
from Mexico under the leadership of Legaspi, a former 
alcalde of the City of Mexico, and Urdaneta, an Augustin- 
ian friar. The occupation of the Philippines was com- 
paratively free from the qualities of avarice and blood- 
thirstiness which disgraced the Spanish conquests in Mexico 
and Peru. Legaspi's work indeed ranks him among the 
great colonial pioneers, for within seven years, with his few 
hundred men and handful of monks, he brought nearly the 
whole archipelago under Spanish allegiance and Christian 
instruction. 

The cooperation of Church and State, close enough in 
all Spanish colonies, amounted in this most distant one to 
practical identification of the two forces. As the chief 
weapon of conquest was a spiritual one wielded by the 
friars, so the real burden of maintaining Spanish authority 
came to rest upon them. Often the only Spaniard in an 
entire region, the friar stood in the community not only for 
religion but for order and the central government, which 
gradually imposed upon him duties in matters respecting 
education, finance, justice, police affairs, and other public 
interests, until his power became almost absolute. 

Up to the nineteenth century Philippine history offers 
few dramatic incidents. Economic development was slow, 
such education as the friars provided was irregular and 
limited, and the inhabitants were not raised far above their 
social condition before the conquest. Yet the government 
usually spent more in the islands than it received from them, 
and the people were free from famine and from the slavery 
forced upon the Indians of Spanish America. In the 
nineteenth century some feeble echoes reached the Philip- 
pines from the battle between the new ideas of individual 



62 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

freedom, popular education, and political rights on the one 
hand and the forces of absolutism and ecclesiasticism on the 
other, which was bringing political and social change in 
the West. The liberal movement was helped on by com- 
mercial changes, especially the opening of trade to all na- 
tions, the coming of foreign merchants to Manila, and the 
increase in markets for Philippine products through the 
building of the Suez Canal. 

Against the rising tide of liberalism and the dawning 
sense of nationality, was set the whole force of the govern- 
ment, reenforced by the Church. There are many evidences 
that the people of the mother country on the whole meant 
well by the colony, but the "Laws of the Indies," many 
of them admirable in theory, were ill enforced or neglected 
in practice ; the courts were slow and corrupt and the whole 
administration was full of favoritism, inefficiency, and graft. 
The friar orders, whose early work in bringing civilization 
and Christianity to the islanders and building splendid 
churches everywhere makes surely one of the most glorious 
pages in the missionary annals of the Roman Catholic 
Church, appear in a different light in the nineteenth cen- 
tury. The Augustinians, with the Franciscans, Dominicans, 
and Jesuits who had come later, now held 420,000 acres of 
the richest lands and under a special dispensation of the 
Pope granted in the sixteenth century when no secular 
priests were available, still administered 817 out of a total 
of 967 parishes, to the practical exclusion of the secular 
and native clergy. Instead of protectors of the people, the 
friars had come to be regarded by the natives as oppressors, 
and the findings of historians generally agree with the testi- 
mony of many Filipinos before the first Philippine Com- 
mission of the American government, in charging the friar 
orders with harsh treatment of their tenants, hostility to 
higher education and the use of Spanish among the natives, 



THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 63 

and obnoxious interference, beyond the wide powers con- 
ferred by law, in affairs of state. 

The first significant clash between the new tendencies and 
the conservative forces took the form of a rebellion of 
native troops at Cavite in 1872. After suppressing the 
revolt, the authorities took advantage of the occasion to 
execute three native priests, who had demanded the ex- 
pulsion of the friars and the enforcement of a decree by 
the Council of Trent against the occupation of parishes by 
monks. A petition to the same effect was presented to the 
Manila authorities in 1886, without other effect than the 
persecution and deportation of the signers and a heighten- 
ing of the feeling of revolt. Now appeared in the person of 
Dr. Jose Rizal, a brilliant young physician and author edu- 
cated in Europe, a new prophet of Filipino freedom, whose 
novels, "Noli Me Tangere" and "El Filibusterismo" por- 
trayed vividly the evils of monasticism in the islands and 
led to his execution at Manila on December 30, 1896, a 
date now celebrated annually as a national holiday in 
memory of the martyr-hero. 

The flame of revolution was at last well kindled and 
through the Katipunan, a native secret society, the fires 
were carried far and wide. At first the cry was, "Long 
live Spain ; down with the friars," and not till later was the 
demand for independence added. Emilio Aguinaldo, a 
young farmer of Cavite and a captain-municipal under 
Spain, came forward as leader and thousands of Filipinos 
gathered in the central provinces of Luzon. On August 
20, 1896, an attack was made on the Spanish forces, and 
the authorities at Madrid, realizing the serious nature of 
the uprising, rapidly increased the garrison from 1,500 to 
28,000 men. On December 1, 1897, Aguinaldo and the 
other insurgent leaders agreed, in consideration of the pay- 
ment of $1,700,000 and the promise of reforms, to leave the 



64 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

islands and secure the surrender of the arms of their fol- 
lowers. But only $400,000 of the stipulated sum and none 
of the reforms were forthcoming, and in April, 1898, in- 
surrection broke out afresh in the island of Cebu. At this 
juncture war with the United States was added to Spain's 
troubles in her colonies, and the first stage of the Filipino 
national movement ended with the appearance of Admiral 
Dewey's fleet in Manila Bay. 

Flushed with their early successes against the Spaniards, 
and excited by the new dream of independence, the Filipino 
forces were not in a mood to give a wholehearted welcome 
to the unexpected American army. After the taking of 
Manila by the American land forces, relations with the in- 
surgents became strained and soon came to open hostilities. 
The Filipino resistance was spirited and continued in 
organized form for several months and then by guerilla 
methods till after the capture of Aguinaldo by General 
Funston in March, 1901. Most Americans, however, are 
fairly familiar with the story of this period and further 
discussion of it here is therefore unnecessary. 

Present Conditions 

From the medieval conditions of one of Spain's most 
backward colonies, the Philippines have come in a few 
years into the full current of the economic, social, and 
political life of the twentieth century. The story of progress 
there in the fifteen years since American civil administration 
began is as interesting as the rapid modernization of Japan 
and China, and merits more than the brief notice we can 
give. 

Economic 

President McKinley's altruistic instructions to the first 
Philippine Commission recognized a sound prosperity as 



THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 65 

fundamental to all that waited to be done for the health, 
happiness, and social and political advance of the people. 
Despite untoward conditions, substantial gains have been 
made by Filipinos and Americans working together on eco- 
nomic problems. A stable gold basis currency has replaced 
the fluctuating Spanish peso and Mexican dollar; and the 
Payne-Aldrich Act arranged tariff relations in a way favor- 
able to both the Philippines and the United States. New 
railway construction includes several hundred kilometers 
in Luzon and a beginning in Cebu and Panay. In first- 
class highways a much greater mileage has been added, and 
a liberal program has been pursued in other public works, 
especially artesian wells, harbors, and lighthouses. Advance 
in the basic industry, agriculture, has not been as rapid as 
could be wished, for several reasons, notably the fact that 
about ninety-seven per cent of the farms are less than a 
hectare (a little more than two acres) in area. But the 
islands are still the chief source of hemp, which had first 
place in export value in 191 6 with sugar second and cocoa- 
nut products third. Sugar especially has made great strides 
recently with the building of modern centrals. The total 
exports for 1916 were $69,937,183, imports $45,496,338, 
about half the combined trade being with the United States. 
Not least among hopeful signs is the splendid system of 
agricultural instruction, from school gardens in all the 
schools of the islands up through the provincial schools to 
the strong College of Agriculture at Los Banos. 

Contrary to a general impression in the United States, 
the islands are paying their way. Uncle Sam has not asked 
the Philippines to defray the expenses of his army and navy 
on duty there, but the regular expenditures of all depart- 
ments of the civil government, including education, health, 
constabulary, public works, and the like, are met entirely 
from the island revenues. 



66 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

Among economic problems still pressing for solution, first 
no doubt is a cure for rinderpest, the disease which plays 
havoc with the carabao, the work animal of the islands. 
Resources yet largely undeveloped are water power and 
fisheries; only partly developed are forests and mines. 

Social 

Until very recent times there were practically only two 
classes, the principales or ilustrados — possessors of educa- 
tion, money, and social and political power, who lived in 
good houses, often of stone; and the mass of the people, 
dwelling in simplicity and subordination in their cane and 
palm huts. The infusion of Spanish, Chinese, and to a 
small degree other foreign blood is widespread among the 
Filipinos, and the mestizos, or individuals of mixed race, 
far from being ostracized as are the Eurasians in India and 
China, are everywhere the leaders in business, politics, and 
social life. During the last years of the Spanish reign, the 
expansion of industry and gradual increase of education 
began the formation of a middle class, which in the public 
schools and new freedom of the American regime has 
advanced rapidly. Here, as elsewhere, this intelligent voting 
middle class must be the hope of a stable national life after 
the democratic model. 

Second only to education and closely related to it in social 
progress is the enormous gain of the last decade and a half 
in sanitation, hygiene, and health. Aided by the native lik- 
ing for cleanliness of clothing and person and the progres- 
sive bent of the younger generation, the American health 
service has worked wonders in the eradication of bubonic 
plague, the control of smallpox and cholera, and the reduc- 
tion of dysentery, tuberculosis, and other diseases. Even 
leprosy is being attacked with success. Over twenty cases 
have been discharged lately from the leper colony at Culion 



THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 67 

as apparent cures. Only a beginning, however, has been 
made on the problem of high infant mortality. 

The Filipinos are a notably sociable people, and ex- 
quisitely courteous manners add much charm to the hos- 
pitality for which they are famous. They are noted, too, 
for taste and skill in music, proof of which is found in 
their Constabulary Band and Orchestra, known in Europe 
and America as well as at home, as one of the superior 
musical organizations of the world. The cockpit, one is 
glad to say, is on the wane; its attraction lay not only in 
the gambling feature but in its social appeal as well. The 
recreative need of the new generation is being met largely 
by baseball and other healthful games. 

Political 

No contrast between today and yesterday in the Philip- 
pines is more arresting than the political one. Subjects of 
a decadent monarchy before the Spanish War are now 
wards of the most progressive republic — the common man 
was then possessed of a mere shadow of political power, 
now every decently qualified man is a voter. From daring 
to hope only for moderate reforms in the colony, to enjoy- 
ing the fullest autonomy next to independence and moving 
rapidly toward that — the Filipinos, in their recent political 
evolution under the tutelage of Uncle Sam, surely furnish 
a classic example of "hustling the East," but an East will- 
ing and eager to be "hustled." 

Under the Philippine Act passed by Congress in 1916, a 
native senate is added to the previously existing house, and 
the resulting all-Filipino legislature is given complete legis- 
lative autonomy, except for a final veto power residing in 
the President; the electorate is widened by including men 
able to read and write a native language (before this Eng- 
lish, or Spanish, or a property qualification, was required) ; 



68 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

the legislature is allowed a free hand in reorganizing and 
"Filipinizing" the government, only the selection of the 
Governor, Vice-Governor, Auditor, and Supreme Court 
being reserved to the President; and assurance of ultimate 
independence is given. For the generous measure of self- 
government already extended in the name of the American 
people, the Filipinos are grateful, and for the present they 
are content ; but they still aspire to a separate national exist- 
ence, and since America's purpose as voiced by Congress 
is to grant it when they are ready, an independent Filipino 
state is a probability of the not distant future. 

Educational 

From the beginning of Spanish civilization there has been 
an educated class in the Philippines, but it was limited to 
sons of the rich, many of whom studied in Spain. Only 
with American occupation did the popular education of 
which Rizal dreamed become a reality. Before fighting 
ceased the first schools were organized, with American sol- 
diers as teachers, and when their confidence was won the 
Filipino parents and children began to show that eagerness 
for education which has brought the annual enrollment over 
the half-million mark and made a compulsory attendance 
law unnecessary. 

All school work is in English. For administrative, super- 
visory, and higher teaching positions a force of about eight 
hundred Americans has been employed, and there are nearly 
ten times as many native teachers, some of whom are being 
advanced to places of large responsibility, a few even to 
division superintendencies. The great mass of students are, 
of course, in the primary schools, but a fair number go on 
to the intermediate and high schools. The system culmi- 
nates in an excellent Normal School in Manila, which has 
a thousand students, and the University of the Philippines, 



THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 69 

with colleges of liberal arts, engineering, medicine, veterin- 
ary medicine, pharmacy, law, and agriculture, all founded 
within ten years but well equipped and in quality compar- 
ing creditably with the best American standards. All boys 
up to high school grade work in the school gardens and 
the girls study domestic science. Much skilful handwork, 
including furniture, baskets, embroidery, and other articles, 
is turned out in the trade and household arts courses. The 
agricultural and household work is so well articulated with 
academic instruction that many visitors who saw the Philip- 
pine educational exhibit at the San Francisco Exposition 
were convinced that the system is more intelligently adapted 
to the life and needs of the people than is our American 
school work. 

There are now in the islands some hundreds of reenf orced 
concrete school buildings, built on standard plans for one 
to twelve rooms. This new and permanent type is steadily 
replacing the old "light material" construction. The non- 
Christian or "Wild Tribes," like the Moros, Igorots, Bukid- 
nons and Bagobos, are asking increasingly for schools. 
Among the first two peoples the Episcopal Mission under 
Bishop Brent has worked with notable success, and in 
Manila and other centers of the Christian provinces there 
are church schools, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, 
and a few private schools which supplement the government 
system. Of the Catholic institutions, the Dominican Uni- 
versity of Santo Tomas, founded in 1619, and the Ateneo 
de Manila of the Jesuits are the most important; and out- 
standing among Protestant schools is Silliman Institute, a 
large and excellent institution under Presbyterian auspices 
at Dumaguete, Oriental Negros. 

Religious 

"Under this head" — the religious question — "until but a 



?o THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

short while ago," said the late James A. Leroy in "Philip- 
pine Life in Town and Country," "one might write all that 
needs to be written of Filipino affairs. Essentially the 
Philippines were a spiritual colony of Spain." Needless to 
say, the Church and State are now separate. Since the 
purchase by the Government of the friar lands in 1902, and 
the reduction in number of the religious orders from over 
1,000 to perhaps one quarter as many, "the friar question," 
which was the chief cause of the 1896-98 revolt against 
Spain, has been eliminated. 

At the end of that upheaval, even though it was directed 
primarily against neither the Spanish Government nor the 
Roman Church as such, Spain lost her colony and the al- 
legiance of the Filipino people to the Church was severely 
shaken. Taking advantage of the situation, Gregorio 
Aglipay, a Filipino priest who had been named "Military 
Vicar-General" of Aguinaldo's army, aided by other native 
radicals, organized a schism from the Church of Rome, 
called the "Philippine Independent Catholic Apostolic 
Church." The movement was politico-religious in charac- 
ter and appealed to the new national spirit with such success 
that it drew away perhaps 2,000,000 adherents from the 
Roman Church, and in some towns secured possession of 
the church edifices, which were later restored by the courts 
to the old church. The Aglipayan Church professes liberal 
tendencies and is naturally more plastic than the more 
ancient body, but lacks leadership and has apparently lost 
ground in recent years, though it still maintains itself in 
many towns and in some has secured substantial buildings. 

Protestant missions have been established in the islands 
since the early period of American civil government. They 
have now about 75,000 members, with possibly an equal 
number of adherents and sympathizers among the families 
and friends of members. Leading numerically are the 



THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 71 

Methodists, the Presbyterians and Baptists coming next 
with approximately equal following. The Congregational, 
Christian (Disciple), and United Brethren bodies also have 
well established but smaller missions. These groups co- 
operate through an Evangelical Union, which assigns a 
distinct field to each, and thus prevents competition and 
waste of effort. The Episcopal Mission conducts, besides 
institutional work in Manila, an active missionary effort 
among the Igorots and is beginning a significant service to 
the Moros. The American and the British and Foreign 
Bible Societies are both active in the circulation of the 
Scriptures, which have been printed in whole or part in 
eight Filipino languages. 

Three religious elements are therefore established in the 
Philippines of today — Roman Catholicism, Independent 
(Aglipayan) Catholicism, and Protestantism, besides Mo- 
hammedanism and the pagan faiths of the so-called "Wild 
Tribes. " The Filipinos are naturally religious and since 
the religious upheaval coincident with the close of Spanish 
occupation there has been ample room for various forms 
of Christian faith and service. With the change in sove- 
reignty, the Roman authorities made vigorous efforts to 
meet the new conditions by putting American bishops in 
charge, and by endeavors to correct serious abuses that 
friends as well as critics recognized had in the course of 
the centuries fastened themselves upon the Church. Some 
of these abuses have already been corrected. 

The Young Men's Christian Association in the New 
Philippines 

That the Filipinos were quick to appreciate amid many 
new forces the genius of the Young Men's Christian Associ- 
ation and to welcome it as a bearer of "the message of Good 
News from other countries" which Rizal foretold, is a new 



72 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

indication of their open-mindedness. Equally significant 
is the facility with which so modern and democratic a move- 
ment fitted into a civilization described a generation ago as 
"three centuries behind the car of Progress" — one of many 
signs that the Philippines have been trying, with surprising 
success, to make up in decades the lost centuries. 

To the Army and Navy Department of the Association 
belongs the credit for pioneering the approach to this new 
land and race. Its secretaries went with the troops to the 
islands in 1898-99 and pitched a big tent by the Bridge of 
Spain in the heart of Manila. Here the men of the fleet 
and land forces found the same ministry of good cheer, 
"as well for the body as the soul," as the "huts" in the 
European camps and prisons are offering today. Then a 
typhoon wrecked the tent and more stable quarters were 
secured, first from the military authorities, later by rental 
in the walled city. As the troops dispersed over the islands, 
branch Associations were established. Finally, with the 
withdrawal of the military, the army Association work be- 
came centered at Fort Wm. McKinley near Manila, and the 
naval at Cavite and Olongapo. At McKinley, before the 
present war the largest American army post, two perma- 
nent buildings were provided, the first by the Pennsylvania 
Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, the 
second, adding to the facilities a large gymnasium-audi- 
torium and a swimming pool, by Mrs. Russell Sage. The 
work done here, in quality and extent, measures up to the 
highest standards of this efficient department. 

The work in Manila gradually changed to a civilian basis 
after the civil government was created. As a result of the 
visit of Messrs. Mott, Morse, and Brockman in 1907, a 
permanent site was secured and a handsome concrete build- 
ing erected for the benefit of American and European young 
men. On other fronts of the same ample site were con- 



THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 73 

structed in 1914 the first buildings of the Filipino Associa- 
tion, one for students, the other for government employes 
and business and professional men. The location, adjoin- 
ing the City Hall and Normal School, is ideal. The build- 
ings are large and well equipped; around them is ground 
enough for outdoor sports. Buildings and site together 
have cost $370,000 (gold), provided by generous subscribers 
in America and the islands. The Association is serving a 
most influential membership of approximately 2,000. In- 
creasing use and support of the American branch, even 
during the recent period of political change when many 
Americans were leaving government service, show warm 
appreciation in the foreign community. Among the Filipino 
members enthusiasm for the whole Association program, 
the religious and educational part along with the social and 
physical, grows inspiringly. The new branches have been 
most fortunate to enlist as donors men like Teodoro R. 
Yangco and Antonio R. Roxas, leaders in Filipino business, 
who had the will and means to give in $10,000 sums; and 
as loyal officers and committee men such choice spirits as 
Mr. Yangco, Judge Manuel Camus, Ramon Fernandez, a 
leading shipping man, Hon. Juan Sumulong, former member 
of the Philippine Commission, and many younger business, 
professional, and government men, leaders among the keen, 
progressive, patriotic Filipinos of the new era. 

After office hours no busier place can be found in Manila, 
it is safe to say, than the three Association buildings situ- 
ated at the geographical center of the city. Already the 
student branch has had to add to its new building, and be- 
sides a large general membership it now has 160 dormitory 
residents, all of whom attend the morning chapel service 
held daily at six o'clock; uniting in its character-shaping 
activities are students from a dozen or more colleges and 
schools and from all sections of the archipelago, including 



74 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

recently the son of a high Moro chief in training for the 
governorship of his province and a son of General Agui- 
naldo. The Filipino city branch has the first evening high 
school in the Philippines. The American branch organized 
for American and Filipino students the first English law 
school, which became later, when well established, the law 
department of the government university. 

Perhaps the most far-reaching service of the Association 
in the Philippines has been rendered to the community as 
a whole, outside the membership. Through its initiative 
modern playgrounds have been established in many sections 
of Manila and competent native leaders trained ; healthful 
sports which take the place of the cockpit and other vices 
have been promoted in the government departments and by 
the Governor-General's invitation at Baguio, the mountain 
capital. Under its leadership the Philippine Amateur 
Athletic Federation has been created to promote clean sport 
and the spirit of fair play, and the Far Eastern Athletic 
Association has been organized to conduct biennial cham- 
pionship games for the whole Orient after the manner of 
the famed Olympic contests of the Western world; such 
"olympiads" have now been held with complete success at 
Manila, Shanghai, and Tokyo, and the results in stimulating 
constructive athletic activities and in cultivating mutual ac- 
quaintance and good feeling throughout the East have sur- 
passed all expectation. 

Discriminating observers of all races testify that these 
centers of friendship and service are purifying and enrich- 
ing in countless ways the life of the city and nation. The 
American young men, far from home, need fellowship, 
exercise, and bulwarks for character. The Filipino young 
men are eager for intellectual progress, in love with the 
strenuous life of gymnasium and athletic field, keen on social 
events, and increasingly concerned as to their moral needs. 



THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 75 

Numbers of lives kept true to home ideals or brought in 
the spirit of the Master of men to higher allegiances show 
that both native and foreign young men are responding to 
Christian America's appeal, borne in part through the Young 
Men's Christian Association, to make Christ king. 

References 

Since in a brief summary like the foregoing only a begin- 
ning can be made in the subject, readers who care to go into 
a more thorough study of the Philippines are referred to 
the following books : for historical information, "History 
of the Philippines," by Dr. David P. Barrows, and "History 
of North America" edited by Thorpe, Vol. XX on Island 
Possessions, by Dr. A. E. McKinley; for Filipino life and 
customs, "Philippine Life in Town and Country," by James 
A. LeRoy; for the history of American administration in 
its early period, "The Americans in the Philippines," by the 
same author; for scientific and general information, "The 
Philippine Islands" and "The Philippines, Past and Pres- 
ent," by Dean C. Worcester; and for religious conditions 
just before and after the change of sovereignty, "The New 
Era in the Philippines," by Dr. Arthur J. Brown. Special 
obligation to McKinley and Leroy for help in preparing this 
chapter is gratefully acknowledged. 



SOUTH AMERICA, THE CONTINENT OF 
OPPORTUNITY 

Charles J. Ewald 

General Secretary of the South American Federation of Young 
Men's Christian Associations, 1903-1918 

General Conditions 

Ten republics and the three Guianas, Dutch, English, and 
French, comprise the continent. Of these, Dutch Guiana 
is four times as large as its mother country, Holland; 
Colombia and Venezuela are equal to the combined areas 
of France, Spain, Germany, and Austria-Hungary; Peru 
has twelve provinces, the average size of each being about 
that of Holland; Argentina is equal to France, Germany, 
Austria-Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, 
Italy, and Ireland; Brazil is larger than the United States 
exclusive of Alaska. 

Magnificent distances, wonderful modern cities, inex- 
haustible natural resources, matchless commercial oppor- 
tunity — these are a few of the facts that have given to South 
America the name of "Continent of Opportunity." 

Political 

Politically it is a continent of republics, whose constitu- 
tions are modeled after that of the United States. Their 
governments, contrary to the popular notion in North Amer- 

76 



SOUTH AMERICA 77 

ica, are for the most part quite stable. Steady, and in some 
cases surprisingly rapid, progress in democratic government 
is being made, particularly considering the unhappy political 
heritages and other markedly unfavorable conditions. There 
have been in the past political disturbances and in some 
countries frequent revolutions, but revolutions have of 
recent years been very unusual and international wars few, 
since these countries won their independence over a cen- 
tury ago. South America has a better record for peace in 
the last hundred years than Europe. Not only so, but all 
the disturbances in South America in a century probably 
have not equalled, in loss of life and destruction of property, 
the first month of the present European War. South Amer- 
ican treaties, without doubt, mark the greatest advance yet 
made towards insuring international peace. San Martin 
takes his place in history beside Washington for his loyal 
and unselfish devotion to the cause of freedom. The states- 
men of Brazil abolished slavery without a political or eco- 
nomic convulsion. In Argentina, a compulsory voting law 
has worked wonders in making the elections truly an ex- 
pression of the will of the people. Such names as Sarmiento 
and Rio Branco stand for true statesmanship of a high 
order. 

The languages and the basic ideals of the civilization of 
South America are derived from Spain and Portugal, the 
countries by which the continent was mainly colonized, but 
the dominant cultural influence has for the past century 
been exercised by France. This influence has been exerted 
chiefly through three channels : the great national uni- 
versities have been dominated by French ideals ; French 
literature has been accessible to the educated South Ameri- 
cans, practically all of whom read French; and there has 
been a close social tie in that most of the foreign travel has 
been to France. To France's credit it should be added that 



78 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

her sister Latin republics have ever found in her a sym- 
pathetic friend. 

Social 

In culture as in everything else, South America is a con- 
tinent of contrasts, with the best and worst of everything. 
Unfortunately the unfavorable rather than the favorable 
aspects of her civilization are most widely known. Too 
commonly, superficial observers have done the more pro- 
gressive republics grave injustice by attempting to general- 
ize in their descriptions of South America, where varied 
conditions and widely differing degrees of progress make 
generalization impossible. 

It may, however, be said that the ruling class is every- 
where a cultivated class. There are splendid universities. 
South America has made a considerable contribution to 
science, literature, and art. The man who transformed Rio 
de Janeiro from the "City of Death" to one of the most 
sanitary and healthful in the world, was a Brazilian phy- 
sician. Santos Dumont, a pioneer in the conquest of the 
air, is a Brazilian. Sociologists are familiar with the notable 
work of Cornejo of Peru. Quesada and Gonzalez of 
Argentina, Letelier of Chile, Ruy Barbosa of Brazil, and 
Rodo of Uruguay are to be counted with the world's pres- 
ent leaders of thought. Newspapers, like La Nation and 
La Prensa of Buenos Aires, O Jornal do Comercio of Rio 
de Janeiro, El Mer curio of Santiago, and El Siglo of Monte- 
video are not surpassed by the leading dailies of Europe or 
North America, if equalled. 

The population of South America numbers approximately 
about 50,000,000. Racially the countries are variously 
stratified. Uruguay has a greater percentage of pure white 
people than any state of the North American Union. 
Brazil's population of 24,000,000 is about one-third white, 



SOUTH AMERICA 79 

one-quarter negro, and five-twelfths mixed, including an 
indeterminate number of Indians. Argentina and Chile 
are almost purely white, while a large percentage of the 
population of Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, and 
Paraguay is Indian or mixed. Roughly speaking, the popu- 
lation of the entire continent is about fifty per cent white, 
principally of Spanish and Portuguese extraction, fifteen 
per cent Negro, fifteen per cent Indian and twenty per cent 
mixed. The ruling class is everywhere white. 

As is readily seen, 50,000,000 people for this vast con- 
tinent means a very sparse population. South America is 
one of the very few remaining large areas at once produc- 
tive and yet meagerly populated. Argentina has about eight 
inhabitants to the square mile. If as densely populated 
as New York State, it alone would have over 200,000,000. 
If Colombia and Venezuela were as thickly populated as 
was Germany in 19 10, they would have 265,000,000. These 
countries are productive enough to take care of large popu- 
lations. According to Reclus, the eminent geographer, 
South America could feed the present population of the 
entire globe. Moreover, there is promise of a rapid growth 
in population. That of Argentina has doubled in twenty 
years. Before the outbreak of the present European war, 
a quarter of a million immigrants were coming annually. 
Serious observers predict that the continent will have not 
less than 200,000,000 by the end of the century. 

Socially, the population can be divided into four main 
classes: the ruling, cultured or landed class; the middle 
class, of comparatively recent development but growing 
rapidly in the cities of the more progressive republics; the 
lower or peon class ; and the Indians. 

Economic 
The business opportunities that South America presents 



80 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

to the outside world are of two kinds. The first includes 
the development of natural resources, government loans, 
building railroads, harnessing water-power, and providing 
street railway systems, water-works, and other modern im- 
provements for rapidly growing cities. Here are some of 
the great mineral areas of the world. Peru and Bolivia are 
rich in gold, silver, copper, and tin. Chile is one of the 
great copper producers. Even the deserts are productive, 
Northern Chile yielding in 1913 $120,000,000 worth of 
nitrates. Argentina exports annually upwards of $300,- 
000,000 worth of agricultural products, while cultivating 
only about one-tenth of the tillable soil. Its beef exports 
amount to $150,000,000. The North American Packing 
Companies have established here large freezing plants. 
Brazil supplies about four-fifths of the world's coffee. The 
interior of the continent has millions of acres of valuable 
hardwood forests. How great is this opportunity for in- 
vestment is evidenced by the way the nations are competing 
for it. Great Britain alone has the equivalent of $3,600,- 
000,000 of capital in South America. 

The second group of business openings is found in the 
great markets for manufactured goods. South America 
does practically no manufacturing and must therefore im- 
port nearly everything in these lines. These imports amount 
in Argentina alone to $400,000,000 annually and are steadily 
mounting. While the European countries, notably England 
and Germany, have in the past had the great bulk of this 
trade, North American manufacturers are making rapid 
progress in these markets. The National City Bank of New 
York has established branches in several of the leading cities 
to help care for this trade, and other powerful banking cor- 
porations are making investigations. British, German, 
French, Italian, Dutch, Belgian, and other European banks 
have long existed. 



SOUTH AMERICA 81 

Probably nothing surprises the traveler new to South 
America as does the development of the cities. The metrop- 
olis of the continent is Buenos Aires, which with 1,600,000 
inhabitants, has doubled in ten years. Rio de Janeiro has 
a population of over 1,000,000, Santiago, Montevideo and 
Sao Paulo approach half a million each and there are many 
cities ranging from 50,000 to 300,000. The principal cities 
are thoroughly modern. In Buenos Aires, sometimes called 
the second Paris, one sees in the handsome private resi- 
dences, the opera, the social functions, public festivals, auto- 
mobiles, and fashionable feminine attire, a lavish display 
of wealth. Rio de Janeiro, with its matchless harbor, green- 
clad hills, beautiful avenues, and public gardens, is regarded 
by many world travelers the most beautiful city in the world. 

The glory and the power of South America are in its 
great cities. Through them the ten republics send their 
large and increasing exports to Europe and North America 
and in turn they serve as the distributing centers for the 
millions of dollars worth of imported goods. Here are the 
great commercial houses, banks, and railway and steamship 
offices. These cities are the centers of social life. Here, 
too, are located the government universities. Naturally they 
are also the centers of government and of political influ- 
ence. Indeed, sometimes a single city is at once the political, 
commercial, intellectual, and social capital of the nation. 

The cities are in the hands of young men. You meet in 
the business world or consult professionally, young men. 
Young men run the governments. It even happens that 
students, while yet in the university, are elected to Congress. 
A national Minister of Education some time ago invited the 
writer to accompany a government party of thirty on a five 
days' trip to inaugurate a school building ; two in the group 
were members of the President's cabinet, the others were 
national senators and representatives — none were over forty 



82 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

years of age. This is typical and significant. The students 
pass quickly from the universities to the places of influence 
and action. They are brilliant, attractive, passionately 
patriotic, courteous, friendly, and responsive to noble appeal. 

Moral 

What a challenge they present to the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association Movement ! The challenge arises from the 
needs and the power of these men. Peculiarly tempted, 
they need for themselves the fortifying ministrations of the 
Association. As leaders of rising young nations, they need 
the Association's ideals, that nations may be wisely built. 

They are fiercely tempted. The vices of the whole earth 
have found their way here, as to all cosmopolitan centers. 
The two great vices are gambling and social immorality, 
both of which are freely tolerated where not actively en- 
couraged. Practically every country maintains a national 
lottery, employing the gains to support hospitals, orphan 
asylums, and even educational institutions. Race-track 
gambling is everywhere rife. El Magazine, a leading Buenos 
Aires monthly, conducted a study of gambling in the Argen- 
tine Republic and published in its October, 191 5, number 
a remarkably enlightening article, from which we quote the 
following : 

"6,000,000,000 pesos ($2,580,000,000 U. S.), have passed 
through the nervous hands of the gamblers of the Argentine 
Republic in the brief space of ten years. In the National 
Capital (Buenos Aires) alone 1,219,000,000 pesos ($524,- 
175,000 U. S.) exchanged hands in forms of gambling sanc- 
tioned by law. We give below the amounts gambled in the 
lottery and at the races, the statistics for which were court- 
eously furnished us by the respective government offices : 
National Lottery. . 380,555,000 pesos ($163,638,650 U. S.) 
The Races 839,241,032 pesos ($360,873,643 U. S.) 



SOUTH AMERICA 83 

Moreover the magnitude of these figures (of legalized 
gambling) is eclipsed by that of the sum changing hands 
at the game tables of the clubs, the innumerable clandestine 
gambling dens, the provincial lotteries and the enormous 
sums played at the 'protected' roulettes that operate under 
the name of social or amusement clubs. 

In the year 1813, when social organization was in its 
infancy, gambling was considered the mother of all vices 
and as a great factor making for the destruction of the 
family, which is the foundation of the community. In view 
of its recognized evil, the Council of Maguncia excommuni- 
cated all those who participated in games of chance. Sad 
indeed is the evolution we witness in our day, when religion 
and benevolent institutions make use of this vice to practice 
charity (?)," 

We do not wish to give the impression that the above 
array of astounding figures can be taken as typical of South 
America as a whole. The fact remains, however, that 
gambling in various forms is all but universal and in some 
countries, because made peculiarly easy of access and at- 
tractive to the poor, is a terrible curse. 

Prostitution, too, is a licensed institution and by many 
municipalities legislated presumably into safety. This fact, 
coupled with an almost complete lack of public conscience 
with respect to this vice, leads young men to regard social 
immorality as both necessary and safe. It requires no 
prophet to say what the result must inevitably be. 

And yet, the moral problem of South America is not 
primarily a question of the degree of vice that is to be found 
in its cities. Unhappily, vice is all too prevalent in all great 
cities. The difference between those of North and South 
America in this respect is that, thanks to a virile and prac- 
tical Christianity, there are in the cities of North America 
hosts of earnest men who have recognized the evils and 



84 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

are trying to eradicate them. Thoughtful students of South 
American conditions will agree that the outstanding weak- 
ness of its civilization is the absence of agencies for com- 
batting these evils and the inefficacy of the forces for the 
building of individual character, on which the success of 
democracy absolutely depends. 

Failure in Building Character 

We are accustomed in North America to think of three 
institutions as chief factors in character building : the home, 
the school, and the Church. No earnest student of South 
America fails to recognize the signal weakness of all three 
of these institutions as character-building factors, so far as 
the men are concerned. In an effort to set forth these con- 
ditions briefly one runs the risk of being seriously misun- 
derstood by many, but the writer has discussed these mat- 
ters with many thoughtful South Americans and has found 
them so invariably in agreement with his own observations 
that he ventures to proceed. 

The defect of the South American home as a character- 
building force in the life of boys and men is not due to any 
lack of affection in the home, and certainly not to any lack 
of earnest concern on the part of mothers. One cannot but 
have the highest regard for the South American wife and 
mother. She is completely devoted to her home and chil- 
dren, but lamentable educational ideals have kept women 
from such a liberal education as is needed to fit them to 
guide their boys wisely through boyhood and the critical 
years of adolescence. Nevertheless the whole responsibility 
for the training of the boy falls upon the mother. He 
is given every educational advantage and intellectually soon 
grows away from his mother and sisters, whose education 
is limited to art and music. He never ceases to love them 
tenderly, but he soon comes to feel that women do not know 



SOUTH AMERICA 85 

very much, and the growth of this conviction carries with it 
the gradual weakening of his mother's influence in those 
matters which most vitally concern his character. Moreover, 
as husband and wife have little in common intellectually, 
the boy's father seeks the club to find congenial conversation 
and the boy, following in his footsteps, more and more finds 
his interests and entertainment outside the home. Dr. 
Estanislau Zeballos, sometime Argentine Minister at Wash- 
ington, when National Minister of Education of Argentina, 
in an article published in La Prensa of Buenos Aires in 
commendation of the work of the Young Men's Christian 
Association, had this to say of the Argentine home: "The 
influence of the home is almost nil; it seems to have no at- 
traction for men, since fathers, sons, and brothers stay at 
home scarcely long enough to eat and sleep and are always 
restless to leave." 

South America is not without schools ; indeed, certain 
countries are making remarkable progress in education. 
Everywhere educational facilities have been afforded the 
upper classes, but the schools have concerned themselves 
too exclusively with the training of the intellect and have 
failed to appreciate their importance as a moral factor. 
This is increasingly true as one ascends the scale from the 
kindergarten to the university. The Rector of a leading 
university said recently, "I recognize that while our uni- 
versities have succeeded admirably in training the intellects 
of men, they have made little contribution to the develop- 
ment of their moral characters." Furthermore, no efforts 
have in the past been made from without, by the churches 
or other Christian institutions, to influence morally or spirit- 
ually the large and all potential government school group. 

Finally, the Church is signally in default as a character- 
builder, so far as these men are concerned. The evangelical 
churches are still comparatively weak, particularly among 



86 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

the influential classes. The Roman Catholic Church has 
been without the kind of message that influences men. We 
quote again from the same article by Dr. Zeballos : "The 
Church gives little attention to the young man launched out 
amidst evil social customs. Her pulpit is generally silent 
as regards social questions and progress, and is concerned 
only with dogmatic religion; its preaching is ineffective, 
because it does not touch life." Men have consequently lost 
confidence in the Church and in religion. Moreover, two 
powerful movements have operated to lead men away from 
the Church. The Socialist Movement in some countries has 
a large hold on the laboring classes with a definitely anti- 
religious influence. In educated circles "free thought" has 
come to have all but universal sway with the men, and, it 
may be added, with the limited number of women who have 
acquired a liberal education. It may be said that gross in- 
difference or active hostility to religion are almost every- 
where coexistent with higher education. Viscount Bryce, 
in his "Impressions and Observations of South America," 
calls attention to this condition. He says that "absence of 
a religious foundation for thought and conduct" is South 
America's "grave misfortune." A leader of Argentine 
thought stated recently in the Buenos Aires press that in 
the interests of true progress in Argentina, three things 
should be destroyed : socialism, militarism, and Christianity. 
His attitude towards religion is typical of that of the in- 
tellectual leaders of the continent. Religion is commonly 
treated as a superstition of the past and as unworthy of 
the attention of free and educated men. 

The Opportunity of the Young Men's Christian 
Association 

Surely under these circumstances none will question the 
need of the message and ministry of the Young Men's 



SOUTH AMERICA 87 

Christian Association, but some may question whether in 
such an environment the Association can really succeed. 
Happily there are those with the faith to believe that it can, 
and their faith has been abundantly rewarded. On ship- 
board on a return voyage to South America, the writer fell 
into conversation with a fellow-traveler, a North American 
business man who represents large financial interests in 
South America and who has had long and extensive ex- 
perience in different parts of Latin America. He is not a 
religious man, but volunteered the following statement: "I 
have everywhere marveled at the way the Young Men's 
Christian Association meets the needs of the men of Latin 
America. It would seem to be an organization created 
especially for them." 

In the Leading Cities 

Let us take Buenos Aires as an illustration. Fifteen 
years ago, the International Committee sent a representative 
to this city. He knew no Spanish and had never had an 
opportunity of associating with Latin people. Today we 
have an Association with 2,000 members, drawn from the 
commercial, professional, and student classes. Six young 
men of unusual ability have been led to dedicate themselves 
to the secretaryship, five of whom had previously through 
this same Association been won to the Christian life. Four 
of these gave up attractive commercial opportunities for 
Association work, the fifth came to the Association as an 
office boy and is at present in the Chicago training school, 
the sixth resigned a position on the faculty of a national 
university to become the associate secretary of the Uni- 
versity Association. The influence of this Association ex- 
tends to the national university with its 7,000 students. 
Five hundred of the students are now members, every one 
of whom pays the full subscription of fifty pesos or $21.50 



88 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

annually for the privilege. The National Minister of Edu- 
cation has furnished transportation to both the North Amer- 
ican and the Argentine secretaries of this Association for 
a tour of the national colleges or high schools of the interior, 
in an effort to relate to the Association the new students 
who stream into the university city every year. The Asso- 
ciation is housed in a modern building, costing with site 
$250,000. The fact that the Buenos Aires business and 
professional men contributed $150,000 towards the building 
fund and are making it possible for the Association to 
carry an annual budget of $40,000 is abundant evidence of 
their endorsement of the institution. 

The development of the Association in Montevideo, 
Uruguay, has in some respects been even more remarkable. 
In rented and utterly inadequate quarters, with an old 
church building as a gymnasium and almost no other at- 
tractions but fellowship to offer, it has a membership of 
500, and has won to the secretaryship one of the outstand- 
ing educators of all South America. The National Govern- 
ment was so impressed by its work that it asked the loan 
of its Physical Director to become the director of a nation- 
wide physical education program, involving the expenditure 
of over $50,000 annually. The Association has the sym- 
pathy of the officials of the municipal and national govern- 
ments, the university authorities, and the business and pro- 
fessional men of the city. Similar success has been attained 
in other cities, notably Rio de Janeiro, where with ill-adapted 
premises an Association of 1,600 members has arisen. 

Among Students 

A still more striking evidence of success is afforded by 
the International Student Conference held every January 
at Piriapolis, Uruguay. This camp brings together students 
from the national universities. The Governments of all the 



SOUTH AMERICA 89 

countries in which we have Associations organized have 
given generous cooperation to make it a success. Argen- 
tina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay have paid the traveling ex- 
penses of their students. Uruguay has done much more. As 
the camp is held in Uruguay, the Government has provided 
tents and other equipment, free railway passage through its 
territory for all delegates, and even a cruiser to convey 
distinguished visitors. Several of its cabinet ministers, to- 
gether with the diplomatic representatives of Argentina, 
Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, the United States, and Great 
Britain, have visited the camp and have unanimously and 
publicly testified to the value of the conference, both from 
the standpoint of international friendship and of character 
building. The leading newspapers and illustrated weeklies 
of the several countries give unlimited publicity and ap- 
proval both to the camp and to the local Associations. The 
owner of the estate on which the conference is held was so 
impressed with its usefulness that he has offered to deed 
over for a permanent camp a splendidly situated wooded 
section valued at about $20,000. 

But far more significant is the influence of the confer- 
ence upon the young men themselves. It must be remem- 
bered that the students come with an attitude towards reli- 
gion typical of South America's educated men, namely, that 
it cannot concern them, unless it be to destroy it in the 
interests of progress. The Christian message spoken here 
by men of broad culture and practical experience, with its 
clear call to right living and unselfish service, comes to them 
as something entirely new, and they do more constructive 
thinking along religious lines in these ten days than in all 
their past years of student life. A brilliant senior law 
student voiced the sentiment of many when, on the closing 
night of one of the gatherings, he spoke to the men briefly 
of his experience during the ten days. He said, in part: 



90 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

''Men, I have a confession to make. When my fellow stu- 
dents asked me to represent them at this camp, I declined, 
angry to think that they should consider me capable of 
attending a meeting held under religious auspices. They 
pressed the invitation a third time before I accepted it. I 
have thought it my patriotic duty to do what I could against 
religion in my country, but I must confess that I never 
heard of religion as you men interpret it — something which 
makes a man happy and useful. That has opened up to me 
a new world. I do not say that I am a believing Christian, 
but I do say that I go away an open-minded man, deter- 
mined to make a first-hand study of this question." Another 
young man, won to the Christian life through this agency, 
has dedicated his life to the secretaryship and already has 
developed into a Christian leader of marked ability. 

We have dealt here almost entirely with the young men 
of the upper and middle classes. This has been done, not 
because we believe the Association movement in South 
America should be limited to these groups, but because it 
is the judgment of South American Association leaders that 
cooperation on the part of the North American Brother- 
hood may wisely be limited to the men and boys of the com- 
mercial, professional, and student classes. It is neither pos- 
sible nor desirable for North America to do more than 
help this continent to the point of establishing a self -direct- 
ing and self-supporting movement of its own. The larger 
task is one for the South Americans themselves. The de- 
velopment of a qualified leadership and self-support re- 
quires, however, that special attention be centered at pres- 
ent on the commercial and professional classes in the larger 
cities and on the students of the government universities 
and national colleges. 

Space forbids dealing adequately with the Association's 
relation to university students, but all who are familiar with 



SOUTH AMERICA 91 

the facts agree that they constitute our greatest challenge. 
Here we have at once the most irreligious, the most tempted, 
the most plastic, the most responsive, and the most accessible 
group of all. It is also, strange as it may seem, the group 
to which the churches have paid least attention. Even to 
this day neither the Roman Catholic nor the Evangelical 
Churches are making any effort directly to influence this 
group. Moreover, it is the source from which the leader- 
ship in government, in the professions, and in business is 
constantly recruited. The 45,000 university students are 
to be found in about twenty universities. It is therefore 
easier to relate our Movement to the future leaders of ten 
republics in South America than to the leadership of almost 
any state in North America. The most of them come from 
outside the several university centers. Brought together 
in large cities, poorly housed, with no provision for social 
or physical activities, no clubs, no gymnasiums or swimming 
pools, no student athletics, in fact, no student social life, 
and no one concerned about their welfare, they stand in 
special need of what the Association has to offer and readily 
respond to it. 

A Program for the Future 

Three years ago there was held at Montevideo a con- 
ference attended by nearly all the Association Secretaries 
and Physical Directors, a score of prominent church leaders, 
and a number of strong laymen, who devoted eight days 
to the study of South American Association problems and 
policies. These leaders mapped out what they believed to 
be the part of the South American program which should 
fall to the North American Brotherhood. This involves 
the planting of Associations in only twenty-six cities, ten 
of which are national capitals and twenty university centers. 
It calls for the sending out and supporting from North 



92 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

America for a term of years of seventy Secretaries and 
Physical Directors, an average of seven to each republic. 
It further contemplates cooperation in helping to provide 
these twenty-six cities with modern Association buildings, 
as has already been done in Buenos Aires. 

Seventy Secretaries and Physical Directors can plant 
self-supporting Associations in the twenty-six cities and the 
twenty universities and provide a staff of traveling secre- 
taries for the general supervision of this continent-wide 
program under the South American Federation, already 
organized with headquarters and an able Continental Com- 
mittee in Montevideo, Uruguay. Sixteen of the seventy 
men have been provided to date. Seven of the twenty-six 
cities, six being university centers, have thus been manned. 
If the remaining fifty- four men could be sent out in the 
next five years, in twenty years we could retire every one 
of this foreign staff, leaving behind a thoroughly established 
indigenous movement, with the leadership and resources at 
its disposal adequate to extend its influence to all classes of 
men and boys throughout the continent. Is it too much to ask 
North America, to which such resources in men and money 
are available, to render this highly productive service? The 
men and boys of a continent await the answer. 

References 

The following books are suggested to those who wish to 

make a further study of South America : 

James Bryce, "South America." 

Homer C. Stuntz, "South American Neighbors." 

J. H. McLean, "The Living Christ for Latin America." 

Robert E. Speer, "The Unity of the Americas." 

Samuel G. Inman, "Christian Cooperation in Latin 

America." 

Reports of the Panama Congress on Christian Work in 

Latin America. 



VI 
MEXICO, OUR NEAREST MISSION FIELD 

G. I. Babcock 
Secretary in Mexico, 1902-1915 

The American people know the least of their nearest 
racially foreign neighbor. It is further anomalous that for 
a country holding our largest foreign colony and our largest 
investment of capital, there is so little sympathy and under- 
standing. Mexico is a country in transition, a nation in 
the making, yet many Americans are pained that it does 
not show the progress and political genius of a Switzer- 
land, while others are surprised to learn that all Mexicans 
are not bandits or uncivilized Indians. Mexicans in turn 
as little understand us and are pathetically skeptical of any- 
thing good residing in "the Yankees." Americans surely 
have a Christian duty to seek to understand Mexico, its 
people, and its problems, as the first step toward bringing 
about better relationships between two nations which have 
to be neighbors, even if they are not neighborly. Some 
of our keenest statesmen believe it is also no less a patriotic 
duty to strive for a rapprochement with this country which 
a recent writer has called the "American Balkans." And 
what a fascinating land Mexico is for the student of world 
problems, with its mixture of ancient and modern in reli- 
gion, in politics, and in industrial and social life ! 

Descriptive and Historical 

In the first place let us note that Mexico, by an apparent 
contradiction of terms, is one of the richest and poorest 

93 



94 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE XATIOXS 

countries in the world — richest in its natural resources and 
poorest when you consider the condition of its masses. And 
its wealth and its poverty are both most serious national 
problems. The great Humboldt, after he had explored and 
mapped Mexico, declared it to be the ''treasure-house of 
the world," but he knew only the half. He little dreamed 
that even its so-called deserts were of incalculable value, 
since they were covered with a scraggly shrub, the guyule 
plant, which yields great quantities of rubber, while under- 
neath them lay great reservoirs of liquid wealth, petroleum, 
that would one day supply the fuel for the world's battle 
fleets. For 400 years Mexico has been the greatest silver- 
producing country of the world. One '"mother vein" in the 
famous Guanajuato district, alone produced between 1556 
and 1803 more than $250,000,000, while up to 1895 the 
total coinage of Mexican silver amounted to more than three 
and a half billion Mexican dollars. Its gold mines also are 
immensely rich and it ranks third in the world's production 
of copper. Vast as are these treasures, perhaps the great- 
est single source of wealth is found in its oil wells. The 
great oil belt is the largest found in the world today, ex- 
tending a hundred miles wide for 700 miles along the east- 
ern coast. Here the greatest wells in the history of the oil 
industry have been brought in, one of them called, "El 
?::rero," holding the record with a flow of 100,000 barrels 
per hour. 

Another most important natural resource is found in 
Mexico's unique climate and rich soil. Located largely in 
the tropics, the high altitude of much of the country takes 
the place of latitude and gives those tracts a temperate 
climate. The result is that Mexico produces everything 
from coffee and rubber of the tropics to corn and wheat 
of the temperate zone. At the same time, as a Mexican 
Consul has pointed out, its world market is located at its 



MEXICO 95 

very door, for the United States demands and needs every- 
thing it produces. These vast material resources, however, 
constitute not only a great national asset but a most serious 
problem as well. Not only do the other nations covet these 
riches, but unhappily their nationals already largely control 
them, for we find that a recent report shows that seventy- 
five per cent of the national wealth is owned or controlled 
abroad. The great oil belt alone is a sufficient stake for a 
world war and may yet provoke one, said a British writer 
a few years ago. 

Antiquity of Mexican Civilization 

To understand Mexico today and grasp its problems, it 
is also necessary to remember that Mexican history does 
not date from the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth cen- 
tury. Indeed, its historical antecedents run into the mists 
of past ages. Many place its antiquities as far back as those 
of Egypt, while others find reasons for claiming its early 
inhabitants to be the descendants of the lost ten tribes of 
Israel. When the Spanish landed at Veracruz they found 
in Mexico a people almost as highly civilized as themselves, 
with their cities and royal palaces, with their temples and 
hereditary priesthood, with their own history and literature. 
The story of the conquest of the country is a most thrill- 
ing one, but the people were finally overcome after a bloody 
struggle. Then, indeed, a new era began for Mexico. The 
country soon swarmed with soldiers of fortune, traders, 
priests, adventurers, who unfortunately did not bring with 
them, as did our own Pilgrim Fathers, high ideals and 
aspirations for religious liberty and political freedom, but 
the moral, religious, and political weaknesses of the six- 
teenth century Spaniard. In a short time a thin strain of 
Spanish blood was mingled with that of the Aztecs and 
other Indian races and out of this intermingling of peoples, 



96 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

religions, and civilizations, was born a new race — which 
was neither Spanish nor Indian, but Mexican. 

The new race coming from the union of the two peoples, 
the Spanish and the Aztec Indians, who in the fifteenth 
century were respectively the strongest in Europe and in 
America, early manifested capacity and power. They were 
trading in the Philippines in the seventeenth century. They 
early developed their mines and were smelting their gold 
and refining their silver before we had even uncovered our 
precious metals. Indeed, long before our American fore- 
fathers had passed through the rough pioneer period, the 
Mexicans had developed a high culture and civilization. 
They could and did look down upon us in the seventeenth 
and eighteenth centuries. We point with pride to the found- 
ing of Harvard University in 1640; the University of 
Mexico was founded nearly one hundred years earlier and 
its scholars were writing and printing books before the 
Pilgrims had landed at Plymouth Rock. Moreover, in fine 
churches and beautiful cathedrals they far surpassed us and, 
indeed, have continued to surpass us until this day. 

Fundamental Problems 

At the same time, under the surface of this early flourish- 
ing Mexican civilization were fundamental defects and 
weaknesses, which both checked further progress and left 
a heritage of grave issues and problems for today. The 
high culture was the expression of the educated classes 
only; the great masses of people were in ignorance. This 
condition persisted, and today the educated classes are as 
refined as any in the world, while eighty per cent of the 
whole population are unable to read or write. Mexico is 
indeed the "treasure house of the world," but one per 
cent of the people own ninety per cent of all the wealth, 
while the masses live in wretched poverty. In spite of the 



MEXICO 97 

country's vast wealth and natural resources, the government 
has always been poor and has never had the money necessary 
to organize its activities, establish the needed schools, de- 
velop its backward industries, and give its submerged classes 
a chance to rise. Mexico has produced some great states- 
men. President Juarez, its great leader during the war with 
France and in the church and state struggle of the sixties, 
was declared by William H. Seward to be the greatest man 
he had ever known. Yet its political institutions are un- 
formed and undefined, and the people have had to endure 
almost unbelievable wrongs — political, social, and economic. 

The brutal Spanish conquest of the country was accom- 
panied by an equally ruthless conversion of the people to 
the forms of Christianity by the Roman Catholic priests 
and missionaries. Church, chapel, and cathedral soon 
abounded in the land, but the Mexican people, with some 
splendid exceptions, were not really Christianized and never 
have been since. The influence of the Protestant Reforma- 
tion, on account of the iron defensive walls built up by 
Spain, did not reach the Mexican Church in the slightest. 
Through all the years it has been a medieval Church, having 
all the trappings of greatness but without life, faith, or 
vision. 

Mexican young men, and especially the students, com- 
pare most favorably in natural endowments with those of 
any other country, but they are at the mercy of an environ- 
ment that destroys rather than develops true manhood and 
real character. The young man is not expected to live a 
chaste life. He is not disgraced by his vices ; but caste and 
prejudice tend to dishonor him if he stoops to do manual 
labor. The home in the Anglo-Saxon sense is an unknown 
term. His education has the form without the substance 
of real intellectual discipline. The Church has completely 
lost its influence upon him and he makes it the butt of joke 



98 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

and jibe. Another serious problem inherited from Mexico's 
early history is the baffling land question. Dr. Geo. B. 
Winton, in "Mexico Today," estimates that one thousand 
families own practically all the land in Mexico ; one whole 
state is owned by eight families. Then there is the revolu- 
tionary habit. From 1810 to 1875 Mexico had two hundred 
uprisings and revolutions and fifty-two Presidents and 
Chief Executives. All these are only a few of the stubborn 
facts that confront Mexico internally. Intelligent and 
Christian Americans cannot but be interested. May they 
also understand and help ! 

Work of Evangelical Missions 

For the last century Mexico has been the El Dorado, the 
land of mystery and glamor, for adventurous spirits the 
world over. During the last fifty years trade and capital 
have turned that way in increasing flow, until now 1,000,- 
000,000 American dollars are invested there. Christian en- 
terprise was slower to see the even greater moral and reli- 
gious opportunities afforded by 15,000,000 needy people. 
No evangelical missionary crossed the Rio Grande until 
1857, and the one then went on her own responsibility. In 
that year Miss Melinda Rankin, a home missionary in Texas, 
moved to Matamoras, Mexico, and almost alone and unaided 
carried on for ten years a varied work with marked, though 
not large, success. In 1869 a more ambitious attempt was 
made when the Rev. H. C. Riley, a worker of great ability 
from South America, went to Mexico City, the capital, 
establishing an independent mission that looked for a time 
as if it might become a national Evangelical Church. Presi- 
dent Juarez favored the work, a splendid property, formerly 
the famous convent and mission of San Francisco, was 
secured for almost nothing, and large funds were contributed 
in the United States. The mission made rapid progress. 



MEXICO 99 

Within a few years, however, the leader, who had become 
Bishop Riley, dying, the church lost its prestige, its mem- 
bers fell away, and finally what survived of the organiza- 
tion was taken over by the Protestant Episcopal Church. 
The influence of this mission, in spite of its final decline, 
was really very great, and many of the evangelical leaders 
in the other churches as well as in the Episcopal Church 
were the fruit of Bishop Riley's work. 

From this early beginning to the present time evangelical 
missionaries as a rule have been welcomed to Mexico by 
many influential leaders and officials, as well as by the com- 
mon people to whom they generally ministered. Presidents 
Juarez, Diaz, and Madero were all kindly disposed, though 
they were not Protestants, and, with the exception of the 
first, took no active steps in the direction of cooperation. 
President Carranza goes farther than these earlier leaders. 
He shows marked evidences of his appreciation of the mis- 
sions. Nevertheless, the spread of evangelical Christianity 
has been accompanied by many bitter persecutions and the 
shedding of blood at the hands of intolerant partisans of 
the Roman Catholic Church, led by ignorant and jealous 
priests. Indeed, Mexico has its book of Christian martyrs, 
the record showing more than fifty who have given their 
lives that the people might be free in Christ Jesus. 

Societies at Work 

In the early seventies several foreign societies at last be- 
came interested in Mexico and began operations in the 
Republic, all of them, however, on a small scale. The 
Northern Baptist and the Protestant Episcopal Churches 
began work in 1870, the Friends in 1871, the Presbyterian 
and the Congregationalist in 1872, and the Methodist Epis- 
copal and Methodist Episcopal, South, in 1873. Later, other 
societies entered the field, but with limited resources. 



ioo THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

Among the most important of these were the Reformed 
Presbyterian in 1879, the Southern Baptist in 1882, and the 
Christian in 1895. In recent years the larger societies have 
attempted to develop their work with some aggressiveness, 
but have been hopelessly handicapped by an inadequate 
staff of trained workers and by their limited equipment. 
At the same time, unfortunately, there has not always been 
the proper coordination of plans and of effort upon the 
part of the various societies and in some places there has 
been actual duplication and overlapping of work. 

The results of missionary work have been most gratify- 
ing, even though they have not been as large as the needs 
of the field demanded and the opportunity seemed to justify. 
The statistics for 191 6 show that the evangelical forces 
have reached a total of 22,403 communicants organized into 
332 churches. These Mexican Christians are fine people, 
indeed, and compare very favorably in spirituality, devotion, 
and Christian character with those of other countries. Their 
leaders especially are noted for their ability and consecra- 
tion. At the Panama Congress on Christian Work in Latin 
America, the Mexican representatives were conspicuous 
among the leaders of this great gathering. On the com- 
mission of scholars chosen to revise the old Spanish version 
of the Bible for all the Spanish-speaking world, the only 
Latin-American to be named was a Mexican. 

This showing, good as it is, has been far from satisfactory, 
however, to the leaders of the missionary forces, who have 
for a long time felt that Mexico at our very door afforded 
a unique opportunity for missionary effort. They have 
believed that the evangelization of the whole country could 
be accomplished, perhaps, indeed, in this generation, if in 
some way the work of the various societies could be co- 
ordinated and a concerted effort carried out on an adequate 
scale. They have seen, moreover, that the policy by which 



MEXICO 101 

every society carried on its work independently made only 
for weakness, duplication, and inefficiency. In some parts 
of the country there has been one missionary to each 12,000 
people, while in other parts only one to a million. Until 
recently there were nine church papers trying to exist when 
one could have served for all, while eight theological semi- 
naries were striving to take care of a total of less than 
50 students. As a result of all this there was called at 
Cincinnati in June, 1914, a conference which turned out 
to be an epoch-making gathering in the missionary history 
not only of Mexico but of the world. 

Practical Cooperation 

It was composed of the workers of the various societies 
and of the Young Men's Christian Association and they 
met together to study Mexico's missionary problems and to 
strive to discover a basis for practical cooperation and unity. 
Five Commissions appointed in advance outlined the work 
and the delegates then met together and considered the vari- 
ous topics "in the spirit of prayer, unity, hope, and courage." 
The plans and program finally adopted signalized the begin- 
ning of a new era in practical denominational cooperation 
and in efficiency of missionary planning and administration. 
They were a most important factor in preparing the way 
for the great Panama Congress two years later. They 
provided, in brief, for the following: (1) A joint depository 
for the sale and distribution of all Christian literature, the 
uniting of all the church papers, and a joint publishing 
house. (2) An advanced educational program, including 
an elementary school with every organized congregation, 
high schools in each mission territory, domestic and manual 
arts in all schools, the consolidation of existing schools 
where there were two or more in the same city, and a union 
college with normal, industrial, and kindergarten training 



102 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

departments. (3) A union theological seminary. (4) A 
territorial division of the country. (5) A common name 
for all the churches, namely, "The Evangelical Church of 
Mexico." (6) A permanent Committee on Reference and 
Counsel to give effect to these plans of cooperation and 
unity. Surely missionary workers in Mexico have set the 
pace for the rest of the mission world. 

The Young Men's Christian Association 

The Young Men's Christian Association was more tardy 
than the churches to recognize either opportunity or duty 
in this nearest foreign field of young men and boys. China, 
India, Japan, and Brazil were occupied long before the 
American Movement answered the call of Mexico. In 1890 
an independent organization was launched in Mexico City 
and for several years struggled along with varying fortunes, 
finally succumbing, with few friends to mourn its passing. 
In 1 901 urgent invitations from missionaries, American 
business men, and some patriotic Mexicans led the Inter- 
national Committee to consider this field favorably. 

Beginnings in Mexico City 

The first secretarial representative reached Mexico in 
May, 1902, not knowing the people, the country, or the 
Spanish language, but believing the Association could suc- 
cessfully meet the needs of young men in Mexico as it had 
in a score of other countries. The usual obstacles were 
present, together with the opposition of the dominant 
hierarchy and the antagonism of certain evangelical elements 
that ought to have been its hearty supporters. The Asso- 
ciation program rapidly made its way. Within four months 
the organization had been completed. A commodious build- 
ing was rented, adapted, furnished, and made ready for 
business. Nearly two-thirds of the expenses of the under- 



MEXICO 103 

taking, 25,000 pesos, were secured from local contributions. 
The formal "opening" was held September 20, 1902. 

An old residence belonging to a prominent Mexican 
family had been utilized and equipment installed that en- 
abled the new organization to provide an all-round Associa- 
tion service. The gymnasium attracted much attention and 
became the pioneer establishment of its kind in the Repub- 
lic. Basket-ball and hand-ball were introduced and im- 
mediately took root. Physical training, recreational sports, 
and amateur athletics soon won devoted and apt adherents 
among young men who previously had considered the only 
sport to be the brutalizing bull fight. The social ideals of 
the Association also aroused much interest. It was difficult 
for a time to make young men believe that friendly inter- 
course could exist among the diverse elements composing 
the Association, that there could be real fellowship without 
drinking and gambling, or social functions without dancing 
or the holding of a raffle. The Association, notwithstand- 
ing, soon became the real social center of the city, both for 
its members and for large numbers of other young men. 
More than 500 members joined the first year. 

The most challenging idea launched was that a normal 
man could be a practicing Christian according to the "im- 
possible" moral and religious standards it was proposed to 
set up. True to the history of its world-wide expansion, 
the Association maintained its ground even in old Mexico. 
Soon through Bible class and personal ministry Mexican 
young men were being won to the "impossible" life and 
became devoted followers of Jesus Christ. 

The first year was not an easy one — what with financial 
troubles, tardy public support, and increasing opposition 
from intolerant churchmen, and with ninety-five per cent 
of the membership "associate members," almost exclusively 
interested in the physical and social privileges of the build- 



104 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

ing. But hardships rarely destroy; they rather stimulate. 
At the end of the first year the young institution was paid 
a rare compliment that only those familiar with Latin-Amer- 
ican conditions can fully appraise. President Diaz, Mexico's 
great ruler, accepted an invitation to become guest of honor 
at the first anniversary celebration — an event unique in the 
history of Christian work in Mexico and, indeed, in Latin- 
America, and one that gave unusual prestige to the strug- 
gling organization. 

Development in Various Centers 

The next important event in the history of the movement 
was the organization in 1905 of a second branch in Mexico 
City. This enjoyed the significant honor of having the Vice- 
President of the nation as its Honorary President and two 
national senators, one cabinet minister, the Governor, and 
the Chief of Police of the Federal District as members 
of its Advisory Committee. Then came the establishment 
in 1906 of the first unit outside the national capital, at 
Monterey. In 1907 Chihuahua was organized upon the 
personal invitation of the Governor of the State, who not 
only gave the Association generous financial and moral sup- 
port personally, but granted free quarters in a state build- 
ing. It is a suggestive fact that the Association has re- 
mained in this same government building until the present 
time, even through six years of civil warfare and the con- 
stantly changing political and military regimes of this par- 
ticularly turbulent northern State. 

The fall of 1906 saw the longed-for event in the life of 
every foreign Association, namely, the visit of the executive 
head of the International Committee's Foreign Department. 
Mr. Mott spent only a few days in Mexico, but made such 
an impression and aroused so much enthusiasm that a move- 
ment was immediately launched to provide the Association 



MEXICO 105 

with its own building. He generously offered on behalf of 
American donors to provide 100,000 pesos if Mexico City- 
would provide an equal amount. The canvass was at once 
started and in spite of a financial crisis in the country was 
remarkably successful, more than 200,000 pesos being sub- 
scribed locally, or twice as much as was called for by the 
offer. The cornerstone of the new building was laid in 
June, 1909, by the Vice-President of the Republic. The 
dedication was held in September, 191 o, during the great 
"Centennial Celebration" of Mexico's independence, and the 
further honor was paid the Association of having the open- 
ing of this building listed as a part of the national celebra- 
tion. President Diaz, assisted by the Vice-President and 
the members of the Cabinet, dedicated the new Association 
home. 

The building is a five-story reenforced concrete structure 
affording a complete modern Association plant, costing with 
the site and equipment nearly $200,000, gold. From the 
days of its opening the organization enjoyed a marked 
prosperity, interfered with only once. This was in Febru- 
ary, 191 3, when the building was captured by the Revolu- 
tionists, used as a fortress, and for ten days suffered severe 
bombardment at the hands of the government forces. When 
the struggle was ended, the plant presented the appearance 
of a wreck. The officers, undiscouraged, took prompt meas- 
ures. A large loan was secured at a government bank with- 
out security and the building soon restored, though the loss 
to the Association and its members was more than 100,000 
pesos. Stability was further tested and proved by weather- 
ing successfully the months of greatest suffering in 1914- 
15, when so many institutions went to the wall in Mexico. 
Mexico City was captured and recaptured by rival forces 
seven times in one year. In 19 16, in spite of all obstacles, 
the membership reached high- water mark, 1,800, and the 



io6 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

entrance of new members had to be suspended for lack 
of room. 

Relation to the Mexico of Tomorrow 

The service of the Association, unique and striking as it 
appears to the Mexicans, represents little unusual to the 
student of the whole Brotherhood. The work is carried? 
on along the lines of the usual American city Association, 
with some features added from the student Association. A 
distinctive characteristic, however, is found in its member- 
ship, wherein the student class is more largely represented 
than any other and at times is in the majority. These stu- 
dents are by far the most important factor in the making of 
the Mexico of tomorrow. In few, if any, countries do the 
educated classes so completely dominate the social, business, 
political, and religious life of the nation. They are probably 
the most needy class. Expressing these facts, a prominent 
observer of Mexican affairs recently said, "In the student 
classes the Association is reaching the heart of the Mexican 
problem. " 

Many church leaders believe the Association has the most 
unique and important contribution of all Christian organi- 
zations to make to Mexico. Two striking developments of 
the last year at least point that way. One is the conversion 
through this agency of perhaps the leading educator and 
non-political public man of the country, a professor in the 
National Medical College and a man who a few years ago 
in a public address said he had lost hope for his country on 
account of the character of its young men. This leader now 
sees every promise for the future of his people through the 
extension of the influence that won him, and so thoroughly 
believes in his vision that he is giving nearly all of his time 
to Association work. 

The second augury is found in the attitude of the leading 



MEXICO 107 

government officials, from the President down, and of the 
most influential public men. These now earnestly seek the 
help of the Association in meeting the needs of the country's 
young men and give it every support, financial and moral. 
President Carranza himself made the largest subscription 
of the year to the Association funds, while cabinet ministers 
and generals of divisions followed his example and con- 
tributed generously. One of the most important and influ- 
ential government leaders, a man of fine education and of 
the highest character, declared publicly that he considered 
the Association to be the best adapted agency for the re- 
generation of the people and that he was in favor of a 
government subsidy to aid in the establishment of an Asso- 
ciation at every state capital in the country. 

References 

The following books are suggested for further reading : 

George B. Winton, "A New Day in Old Mexico." 
George B. Winton, "Mexico Today." 
Hubert W. Brown, "Latin America." 
Frederick Starr, "Mexico and the United States." 



VII 

THE WESTERN WAR ZONE 

The Rev. John Kelman, D.D. 

It always gives me the greatest pleasure to stand upon a 
Y M C A platform. Those of us who have been standing 
on these platforms all over Europe and beyond it have come 
to associate with them a certain kind of religion and a 
certain kind of humanness which brace and nerve us every 
time we meet such audiences. I, for my part, love nothing 
more than just the atmosphere that has grown around the 
Young Men's Christian Association since this war called 
it into its new being. We were all of us caught in a tre- 
mendous hour. All churches, all organizations, all societies 
of every kind were caught in a tremendous hour. We felt 
that tragedy was probably the prelude to revelation, but 
we were not sure whether we had understood life well 
enough to catch that revelation which the tragedy might 
bring. All things, all countries, all societies and relations 
were changing, and the question was whether we were big 
enough to understand, to adapt, and to act according to 
the voice of the time. The challenge came especially to 
such an organization as the Y M C A. Many of its old 
traditions were singularly different from its new life. It 
had to be daring, to face much criticism and much misun- 
derstanding. It had to run along the dangerous edge of 
things if it were to produce any effect at all. And there is 
no better place than the dangerous edge. The adventure 
of it, the sheer joy of the dangerous edge, is something to 
make worth doing and likely to tell. The fact of the matter 

108 



THE WESTERN WAR ZONE 109 

is this (and the YMCA has discovered it), the man or 
the woman who is not prepared to give offence to a great 
many excellent people is not fit for the kingdom of Heaven. 
The YMCA accepted the challenge that was flung down 
to it, and created a situation that has never been known 
on the earth before. Those of us who have seen its work 
in France are consumed with wonder as to how a war was 
ever fought in the world without the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association. Everything here is for the man who wills 
and who claims it, and these men have willed and claimed it. 
It so happened that the YMCA had a lead. In peace 
the Association had already attained a strong footing in 
the territorial camps, and had gained so much experience 
that she could understand something of what was likely to 
be demanded of her. When the challenge came she was 
just that much ahead of everything else. She sprang to the 
opportunity and she has most abundantly succeeded. One 
reason why she has done so has been very largely this, that 
in the Providence of God there have been raised up in 
the YMCA at this particular time two or three men 
who are essentially statesmen. One of them — I should say 
perhaps the leading man of them allr — is Sir Arthur Yapp, 1 
whom our rulers have recognized for a statesman and have 
set over the great department of Food Economy. He is 
endowed with the statesmanlike instinct and understanding 
of a great public situation, that asks no questions as to 
whether a thing can be done or not, but goes and does it. 
There are many others besides him. It has been my high 
privilege to live during the past ten months very frequently 
with such men, the heads of districts at the YMCA head- 
quarters of each of the five fighting armies. I have lived 
with them all in their own fields, almost every one of them 



1 General Secretary of the English National Council of Young Men's Christian 
Associations. 



no THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

young men, previously inexperienced in such matters. And 
these young men, whose whole lives had been articulate 
upon a smaller plane of experience, suddenly set to face 
great and difficult situations in which they could consult no 
one but themselves and necessity, have made good all along 
the line, and have established the Association work along 
the immediate front of the armies in a manner which would 
do credit to any cabinet on earth. 

It was at the bases that the Y M C A first of all took 
hold, and there the work has been established upon a scale 
that has now reached something quite fabulous and incom- 
prehensible. I never could understand mathematics, and 
I have run clean out of arithmetic to try to understand this. 
The income of the Y M C A for the past six months in 
France alone actually amounts to an annual average of 
something like £1,400,000. Of that sum only £5,000 is left 
over as a surplus. Having found a surplus, small indeed 
in comparison with the enormous figures of the income, 
we immediately do like wise people, and spend every penny 
of it. We spend it partly upon the relatives of the wounded, 
a new department which is coming more and more into 
prominence, and partly on the wounded themselves in the 
South of England, where we have established a center that 
is growing larger and larger with the continuance of the 
war. 

The great and varied interests represented in the huts 
and headquarters include all that affects all the religious 
and secular life of the men. The highest lectureships that 
can be got for them from Oxford and other universities of 
England and of Scotland are provided. Even-thing that 
ministers to their social welfare, such as concerts and 
theatricals, are all managed by the very highest and most 
accomplished people who can do these things. All their 
needs are perpetually before the organizers of the Y M C A. 



THE WESTERN WAR ZONE in 

One extremely interesting department is the work among 
the relatives of the wounded. When a poor fellow lies sick 
and is almost given up, word is sent home to tell his people 
that an opportunity will be given them to visit him. But 
these people at home may be living in some inland town or 
village which they have never left all their life long. A 
journey to London alone is utterly bewildering, and when 
they cross to France they are the loneliest and lostest of 
fellow creatures you can imagine in all the world. The 
Y M C A, realizing what they feel, has provided at every 
stage of these afflicted people's journey men and women who 
will smooth the way for them, and stand by them when 
they see their relatives pass away, and go to the grave with 
them, comforting them with all the tenderness that great 
hearts can show to wounded spirits. Then, again, in the 
hospitals there are places for them where they have com- 
mended themselves to chaplains in charge as fit and tender 
helpers. I was told the other day of a fellow who lay dying 
in an hospital. One of our helpers went into that room. 
The boy thought it was Jesus Christ. He said, "Hullo, there 
is Jesus Christ. I want some water." My friend went out 
and got the water and brought it back to him, and as the 
boy saw him in the dim light he once more greeted him, 
"Hullo, there He is again with the water, Jesus Christ. I 
knew He would come. God never lets a fellow down." 
Incidents of that kind are abundant everywhere. 

Another thing that is perhaps less noticed is the ministry 
to officers. We all see the ministry to the boys continually. 
But I do not know that there is any lonelier man today than 
the young officer in the British Army. The subaltern, often 
merely a boy fresh from school, wandering about a land 
where all the conditions are strange and new, is up against 
the most terrible of experiences. I remember a place where 
the Superintendent of a Y M C A was knocked up at one 



ii2 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

o'clock in the night, when some stray train had strolled in 
with its hands in its pockets, as they say in France. We 
found fourteen absolutely stranded young officers with no 
place to go to, the only alternative being to stay about the 
railway station if there had been one. Frequently there 
is not, and in the place I am speaking of it had been shelled 
to pieces. We put five in the beds we had ready, and we 
made room for nine in the billiard room, and there they 
slept till the early train. These things count for something, 
if words of thanks mean anything, for I never heard else- 
where such words of thankfulness as you hear every day 
in France. 

One village, an old-fashioned place, rich with the memory 
of artists who used to go that way, is now a little dark spot 
in a vast community of huts and tents. All throughout this 
area are the huts of the Red Triangle, centers of life and 
help to very lonely men. In another, where a great statue 
looks down over a seaboard along which are some five con- 
secutive miles of hospitals, you will find centers of the 
Y M C A just where they are needed most. On many an 
ancient battle-field, not far from the battle-fields of modern 
times, the good work is carried on. Upon the fields of our 
own royal Henry the Fifth of old, Shakespeare would find 
his words come true today: 

"Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent. . . . 
For forth he goes and visits all his host, 
Bids them good morrow with a modest smile 
And calls them brothers, friends, and countrymen. . . . 
That every wretch, pining and pale before, 
Beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks . . . mean 

and gentle all, 
Behold, as may unworthiness define, 
A little touch of Harry in the night." 



THE WESTERN WAR ZONE 113 

There in all the places where temptation has thrown down 
the glove, the Y M C A has taken it up. At the base camps 
amongst recruits, men on leave, and convalescents, they are 
doing a work that is absolutely new, and finding their way 
into millions of British hearts. 

Then feel your way forward with them as they felt it 
in the old days, until you come up near the line to an old 
broken-down-looking city — not a city, but something be- 
tween a village and a town. Go into a back street and you 
will see what some might call a cellar, for it is very low 
and small. It was all there was for the pioneers of the 
Y M C A who desired to be nearer to the guns. Long 
since they have gone further than that, and established them- 
selves in headquarters some five or six miles short of the 
front, always following as it sweeps onward. One place 
I entered has been bombarded with an infinite quantity of 
shells. Half the houses are in ruins and still aeroplane bombs 
come down when the moon gives light enough to guide them. 
From there we send up along the "bloody miles" the most 
fearless and venturesome of our agents, where they minis- 
ter and take their chance. 

The center that I know best of all is in the Ypres salient. 
Place after place rises to memory. One thinks of the Sun- 
day night when a former Edinburgh friend was taking his 
leave. I was with him on Monday after we had lectured 
there together and his successor had taken over the work, 
and we all sat talking over the possibilities of things. On 
the Thursday, in precisely that place, his successor was 
killed — a great heroic death. 

Then there is little Dickebusch — that queerest of places. 
Every soldier will laugh if you ask him how he would like 
to spend his summer holidays in Dickebusch. Probably it 
was a place where formerly summer holidays were spent. 
I had communion there with some others in a room which 



ii4 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

was just big enough to receive us, a partition of the build- 
ing having been blown away by a shell. And in that place 
one man stays and sells 20,000 eggs a week to the boys as 
they pass through, while he ministers with equal abundance 
to the needs of their souls also. 

Further up the line we have another Y M C A agent, who 
went there just about a year ago. For that solid year he 
has not once been outside the area of the ruined city that 
surrounds him. He lived once in a cellar and they bom- 
barded it until it was practically blown to pieces. He shifted 
and went into a second cellar, and they followed him with 
gas. He went to a third and they gassed him there also, 
but he managed to stay through the whole bombardment, 
and I saw him there cheery as a school boy. 

Sir Arthur Yapp and I were together upon Kemmel Hill 
when a forward movement was made upon the Ypres 
salient. It was very dark. We waited until 3:50 in the 
morning. It was exactly as in Browning's language, that 
wonderful language of "Easter Day," where he describes 
the Day of Judgment coming. All the land lay dark at our 
feet, when all of a sudden there went, 

"A fierce vindictive scribble of red, 
Quick flame across." 

It flashed from right to left, and again fell the darkness 
for one momentous second. Then it seemed as if all the 
earth had opened its mouth like a dragon of the ancient 
days, to belch out flames of fire. The whole land was blaz- 
ing with the barrage. All through the night of incessantly 
bursting shrapnel and signals flaming along the line, we 
watched it together, trembling with excitement and the 
realization of all that was creeping up under that barrage 
of fire. The Y M C A next day was selling cocoa in the 



THE WESTERN WAR ZONE 115 

conquered trenches to wounded and weary men. For four 
days and nights after that, it rained continuously. (One 
of the most awful features of the war has been the continual 
succession of disappointments in the weather we have had 
at the front.) For four days and nights the lads who were 
coming back wounded had not had a dry stitch on them; 
and every man who came into the Y M C A tent got refresh- 
ments, sent his letter home to his friends, and the worker 
beside him cheered him and gave him a lift into an am- 
bulance, just to let him see there was somebody who cared. 
These are the things that make this work the gloriously 
sporting job it is. 

In their retirement the Germans have chosen for one of 
their weapons buildings which they leave standing where 
everything else is a mere heap of rubbish. You are as- 
tonished to find here and there a house that has not been 
touched, and you think, How nice of them to have spared 
anything when they were leaving everything in desolation! 
But you don't know your man. We got one of these beau- 
tiful houses, but we also got an expert to examine it. He 
found inside the piano one of the wires attached to the pin 
of a bomb, so that when you played that note there would 
be no other notes to play ; and in the cellar there was found 
a chemical arrangement with a great explosive bomb, which 
in the course of seven or eight days would have blown 
the house into a common heap with the rest. The thing 
has happened. In one town the Mayor came back with his 
typists and clerk to the mayoral offices which had been left 
standing. Just seven days after they had settled down the 
explosion came and there was not enough left to tell where 
the maiorie had been. In all such places the Y M C A is 
working right at the back of the British guns and follow- 
ing the barrage like the Tommies. 

The spirit in which all this is done seems to me to be the 



n6 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

most interesting thing of all. At the base camps the groups 
are merry, and the men and women are like a family party, 
doing "the greatest of services in the highest of spirits." 
But after you come up to Forward Headquarters there is 
a change in the scene. There are no women there, although 
that is not of their own choice. Everywhere the girls are 
wanting to go forward and take their places with the men, 
and in some places women have magnificently done it — in 
the forward hospitals where some of them have laid down 
their lives. But Y M C A women are not permitted up 
the line. There you have little monastic communities, and 
the tenderness, affection, and gentleness with which the 
occupants of the huts and Headquarters try to make up for 
the loneliness and difficulty of their tasks, was to me one 
of the most pathetic and beautiful features of the YMCA. 
These little kindly communities are about as pleasant things 
in spirit and feeling as anything one can find out there. 
And when the troops go up the line in the night to the cap- 
tured German dugouts, or bring up transport and guns 
under a cross fire of shells from different directions, they 
find the agents of the Y M C A. 

There is one question I want to ask and answer if I may. 
You sometimes hear it said that this work of the YMCA 
out there is too secular. In a menagerie in America there 
were on exhibition a lion, a tiger, and a lamb, all in the 
same cage. A man who had studied Scripture all his life, 
from his youth up, came many hundreds of miles to see this 
wonderful thing. After gazing at the scene a while he 
called the manager and said, "Now this has been the holiest 
day of all my life. I have long read these prophecies, and 
at last they have come true. But I want to ask you how 
you have done it." "Well," said the manager, "I guess the 
lamb has to be very frequently renewed." There are some 
people who seem to be persistently saying that the lamb 



THE WESTERN WAR ZONE 117 

of Christianity has to be very frequently renewed in the 
Y M C A work. It takes me all my time to have any 
patience with that sort of talk. Secular! He who does 
not see religion in everything done in these huts is blind. 
You hear people say they are not going out to France to 
sell coffee and matches. They would be better men if they 
went. There are a hundred ways of selling matches. You 
can sell matches as if you were bored to tears, and you can 
sell matches so that you make men feel that Jesus Christ 
is looking over your shoulder. I remember where a great 
Roman church stood with the candles burning before the 
shrine. Close beside it there was a Y M C A hut with one 
of the boys playing "Home, Sweet Home" on the piano at 
one end and a man selling things at the other, and in the 
dim light it seemed to me I saw the form of the Son of 
Man and heard His voice saying, "Inasmuch as ye have 
done it unto one of the least of these ye have done it unto 
Me." Jesus was not always writing the New Testament or 
thinking out a new verse for it. He was looking to see 
what people who came round about Him needed; and 
whether it was bread, or health, or forgiveness, He gave 
them just that. And when boys who have been risking their 
lives for you come up hungry or thirsty, and you have an 
opportunity of giving them in that hour a little bit of kindly 
human, secular help if you will — why, that is Christianity 
or there is not any. 

Besides that, you have always a further opportunity. 
These things enable you to do other things. You can speak 
to men about anything you like, if you have first convinced 
them you care for their human comfort. When I went out 
first I used to get little groups and speak to them about 
their homes and other matters. Sometimes it was very 
affecting and sometimes I made friends that I have never 
lost yet. But I somehow or other felt I was talking to 



n8 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

fellows I had no right to talk to on these things until I had 
gained their confidence. There is an artificial barrier when 
one tries to be intimate with strangers. I found the secret 
afterwards, and the secret was the bar of the canteen. I 
went down to the Y M C A to sell them anything they 
wanted to buy. And I found that there in the act of counter 
selling, where you met them face to face, and gave back 
simple human words to their remarks, whether in chaff or 
earnest, you got into their fellowship and they heard what 
you had to say. After that there was no stiffness any- 
where. Anyone who goes out to serve may get into the 
secret of the boys with extraordinary readiness and will get 
them to communicate their innermost thoughts. One of 
them will ask you whether Job would have been able to 
manage his patience if he also had had to manage a couple 
of mules. Another fellow tells you that his wife has com- 
mitted suicide and there is nobody to look after his mother- 
less bairns. From the one extreme to the other you are 
drawn, and you are their friend. 

The Y M C A has a chance today of being the reconciling 
element in the midst of all sorts of disintegrations that are 
occurring. In the Army the Y M C A workers are neither 
privates nor officers ; that is the glory of it. We belong to 
the mess and we belong to the sergeants' mess and to the 
Tommies' huts as well. We are everywhere and at the call 
of everyone. The value of this is acknowledged in high 
places. There is no man who has given more consideration 
to the spiritual and social side of the Army than Sir Douglas 
Haig has done. The thing that concerns him most is the 
spirit of the troops, what they are thinking or feeling. For 
that reason he looks upon the Y M C A as one of the great- 
est instruments of the war in dealing with the situation that 
has arisen. At the first there was some misunderstanding, 
but gradually the Army has come to realize that the YM 



THE WESTERN WAR ZONE 119 

C A can do for it what is preeminently needing to be done, 
and that nothing else can do this so well. 

Then, again, there is the matter of religious differences 
at the Front, as elsewhere. The question was asked as to 
how the various denominations would manage to live to- 
gether and understand one another. There is a story told 
of a lad, who was very much discouraged, meeting a padre. 
"Well, my boy, what is the matter with you?" said the 
padre. The boy saluted and said, "Presbyterian, sir." The 
Y M C A is the meeting-point for all denominations. It is 
the center round which men differing widely in their ecclesi- 
astical outlook are willing to come and willing to work. It 
has already done a great deal to bring people together, and 
in the future it will be a center for a permanent and lasting 
basis of unity in the Church. 

Finally, there is the great matter of reconstruction after 
the war. The men are discussing political questions now. 
You never pass a hut or a tent without finding out how 
keenly they are discussing future problems. I know of no 
place where, after this war, these questions can be so readily 
discussed on lines of justice and equity, with a restraining 
hand on extremes and foolishness, as just those huts. 

Such is some general conception of the Y M C A work 
in France. 

There is no doubt that it is achieving both directly and 
indirectly very remarkable religious results. The situation 
is a unique one. In Britain, as elsewhere, there has been 
for many years a strong and perpetual drift of the young 
manhood of the land past the Church, and it has been a 
problem of the most anxious kind in all the churches how 
the non-church-going might be reached and influenced. The 
great War has suddenly given for a period the opportunity 
so long desired. Chaplains and Christian workers are in 
close and daily contact with millions of our young men. It 



120 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

may be useful to state, so far as my experience has enabled 
me to do so, a brief estimate of the situation that has been 
disclosed. 

First of all, everyone must be struck by the astonishing 
revelation of hidden character of the noblest sort. It was 
customary before the War to speak hardly of the softness 
and self-indulgence of the present generation. When the 
crisis came, we discovered an amazing wealth of hidden 
treasures of manhood. It is true that there are many vices 
connected with the war, but of these this at least may be 
said, that they are natural and frank, due very largely to 
abnormal conditions, and at least preferable to the sly and 
mean vices which are found in peace time even in nominally 
respectable quarters. But the virtues are absolutely in- 
credible. The dogged resolution, the astonishing cheerful- 
ness under horrible circumstances, the self-sacrifice and 
generosity, and the amazing courage are qualities for which 
no language is adequate to express one's admiration of the 
men and one's thankfulness to God. That fact in itself 
constitutes an enormous asset for the future. It is not, I 
think, so much that the War has created these, as that it 
has revealed them and called them forth. We know now 
what we have to work upon in the character of British men, 
and no religious work of the future can be done without 
taking account of this fact. 

Besides this, there have been two most interesting spirit- 
ual phenomena manifest throughout the War. One of these 
is that in the great majority of men it was at the beginning 
and has continued to be a war of ideals. It was for hu- 
manity and love, for the honor of the women and the chil- 
dren of their homes, that they came out at first, willing to 
sacrifice all that they had, and life itself when these seemed 
to be threatened. Later on they discovered the wider, 
national aspects of the War, and for many of them it is a 



THE WESTERN WAR ZONE 121 

war directly waged for freedom. Finally, as the years 
went by, continually revealing more and more deeply the 
horror and tragedy of war, the soldiers learned to put a new 
value upon the blessing of peace. I believe that, for vast 
numbers of them, the strongest incentive to continue to the 
end in courage and resolution is the definite hope that by 
doing so they may end war forever on the earth. But the 
very fact that these men are consciously living for ideals 
is a great gain to the life of the nation, and may be used 
as the starting point for a more exalted thought and life 
afterwards. The second phenomenon of the War is a very 
remarkable development of mystic and visionary experience, 
even in men who were not before either religious or imagina- 
tive. Under the stress of danger in the trenches and shell 
holes, and also in hospitals when death seemed to be ap- 
proaching, there have been a great many instances of visions 
which for the most part took the form of an appearance of 
Jesus Christ. All sorts of details of speech and appearance 
have been recorded. Sometimes the figure has spoken to 
them in their own language ; sometimes in a kind of adapta- 
tion of scripture forms. One boy, just before starting on 
a bayonet charge, heard him say, "Keep smiling: as long 
as you keep smiling you're safe." Another told how after 
lying thirty-six hours in a shell hole he prayed desperately, 
and saw the Saviour standing at the side of the hole and 
saying, 'Suffer it for this night only — help cometh in the 
morning.' " The boy lay down in the mud and fell asleep, 
and added, in telling the story, "Sure enough in the morn- 
ing it was the stretcher-bearers that woke me." It is diffi- 
cult to estimate the value of such phenomena as these. One 
thing is very certain, and that is, that they will never be 
forgotten, so that we have today, widespread through all 
classes of the community, memories of vivid and remark- 
able moments when an unknown spiritual world broke 



122 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

through the veil of sense and flashed upon their spirits a 
bright revelation. 

All these phenomena in themselves do not amount to what 
would be called a revival of religion in the ordinary mean- 
ing of these words, but they certainly do provide a very 
remarkable store of assets, upon which the Church may 
work in future days. In a word, they have revealed the 
reality of the spiritual world all along the line of character 
and of vision. But it is necessary that they should be 
interpreted into clear, intellectual forms, which might be 
definitely accepted as the foundations of religious faith and 
life. If some such interpretation is not given, they will 
have little other value for the future than the memories of 
vivid emotions. It seems to me that the opportunity and 
responsibility of the Church is that it shall present Chris- 
tianity to soldiers as they return to civilian life, not as some 
new thing of which they have had no experience, but as the 
interpretation of the most memorable experiences which 
they have ever known. 

Working along these lines, I would suggest the following 
points as a sort of basal creed in which Christianity will 
be understood in the future by these men : 

I. Fatalism reinterpreted into faith in God. The men 
are almost all fatalists in the hour of danger. Very early 
in the War fatalistic phrases grew familiar : "It's only the 
shell that's got my name on it that will get me"; "When 
my number's up I'll go." Such a view of fate might at first 
seem to be superstitious and pagan, but it really is an in- 
evitable natural reaction in the moment of intense strain. 
A soldier going into battle suddenly realizes, under some 
such phrase as these, that he has dropped all responsibility 
for his own fate. His life or death depends entirely upon 
something outside himself and over which he has no control. 
It is ours now to translate that something into a personal 



THE WESTERN WAR ZONE 123 

will and the fatalism of the soldier may thus lead him 
to perceive that he has unconsciously accepted the first 
article of the Christian creed, "I believe in God the Father 
Almighty." 

2. Nothing is more universal, nor is anything finer at 
the Front, than the affection of men for their mates, and 
the sense of honor popularly expressed in the phrase, "Play- 
ing the game." It will not be very difficult to present Jesus 
Christ in this simple and natural light. He is the great 
Companion who trusts them and expects them "to play the 
game." It is needless to dwell upon the rich content which 
this aspect of Christ contains ; if it were widely proclaimed 
and accepted it would rescue the Saviour from a thousand 
stained glass windows. To many of these men He has been 
a remote figure connected with the Church and ancient 
history, but in no way entering into the daily familiarities 
of life. Linked up with the daily experiences which we 
have mentioned, the idea of familiar fellowship may come 
upon men with a sacramental intensity and bring back the 
lost Christ into their daily consciousness. 

3. All this grows more intense when we come to the con- 
ception of sacrifice. The extent and abandonment of self- 
sacrifice at the Front is beyond all things wonderful and 
potent. The whole-hearted surrender of life and all that 
makes life precious, for the ideal of their country or for 
the love of a mate, meets you everywhere upon the battle 
line. These men have been told from their youths upwards 
that Jesus Christ died upon the cross for the redemption 
of the world and for the love of men. But that great 
statement somehow has left them cold, not so much because 
of any intellectual rejection of it, as owing to the simple 
fact that it never seemed to enter into the field of their 
actual experience. Now they can remember the times when 
they themselves were called upon to give up everything for 



124 THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE NATIONS 

these same ends. Granting that there is a mysterious gulf 
forever dividing the sacrifice of Calvary from anything 
that can be asked of other men, it still remains true that 
their own experience of sacrifice has so far identified them 
with the experience of Christ, and has brought His cross 
within the circle of living realities to them. 

4. One of the most remarkable facts in the psychology of 
the War is the change that has come over the aspect of 
death in men's thoughts. In former days of peace, death 
was an exceptional thing, striding in a spectral manner into 
the bright and simple life of the street, the work-shop, and 
the family. So entirely was it cut off from the rest of ex- 
perience that it seemed to have a finality about it, which 
rendered the hope of immortality difficult and vague to great 
multitudes of men. Now death has become so familiar 
that men expect it in new forms every day. They see it 
continually among their comrades and are, as it were, kept 
continually looking into its eyes. In so doing they have 
discovered a secret, apart from religion altogether, which 
has made for many of them a fundamental change in the 
aspect of things. Death, they have discovered, is not the 
final and outlandish thing they used to think it. It is but 
an incident in life, and beyond it there is a future in which 
men who have died will still be active and aware. It is 
needless to point out how great a step this is towards faith. 
Probably the easiest part of all the interpretation of ex- 
perience by the Christian Church will be the translation 
of this blind sense of immortality to the promise of eternal 
life in Jesus Christ. 

5. Resurrection. Perhaps there is no dogma of the Church 
which has had less practical meaning to non-church-going 
men than that of the resurrection. But today there is un- 
doubtedly a great deal of thought projected into the future 
regarding the conditions that will obtain after the War. 



THE WESTERN WAR ZONE 125 

Such thought will either take the most dangerous and revo- 
lutionary forms, or it may be guided into an entirely Chris- 
tian direction. In so far as it is a demand for the redress- 
ing of actual wrongs and the establishment of just con- 
ditions, it is simply man's cry for the Kingdom of God 
which Christ proclaimed. We have had our Calvary, and 
after Calvary should come resurrection. The reinterpreta- 
tion of the forward outlook of the present day into such 
definitely Christian terms as these would bring Christ into 
the future as the leader and guide of men's just and reason- 
able progress in social and economic matters. 

In these points I have tried to sketch out a very crude and 
general forecast of the way in which the Church may utilize 
the unconscious religious experiences of the War. As to 
the details by which this can be attained, it is perhaps too 
early to say much, but one thing at least is certain. The 
Young Men's Christian Association, which has so nobly and 
effectively come to the help of men at the moment of the 
beginning of their new life, may do very much indeed in 
the future to help in its translation into definite religious 
forms. For this end a thorough and genuine cooperation 
between the Church and the Y M C A is necessary. It must 
be acknowledged and understood definitely on both sides 
that these two are in no sense rival institutions, but that 
indeed the Y M C A actually is the Church performing cer- 
tain of its functions. By its help, the men who have for 
the first time been brought into familiar contact with mem- 
bers and ministers of the Church at the Front, may be kept 
and led into the membership of the Church itself in days 
to come. 



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